Israeli & Greek presidents
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Greek president radios in congenial thanks to Rivlin
Prokopios Pavlopoulos, on his way home from Shimon Peres's funeral on Friday, radioed the control tower to record a kind message of thanks for the Israeli president's welcome.
On Friday afternoon, following former President Shimon Peres's funeral, attended by dozens of heads of state and government, one of the attendees, Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos, radioed the north tower at Ben Gurion Airport from his Hellenic Air Force plan to bid his Israeli counterpart a warm farewell.
"On my departure from Israel, I would like to extend to Your Excellency my most sincere thanks for the warm welcome which I have been offered, and I look forward to meeting you again in the near future," said Pavlopoulos in a message for President Reuven Rivlin.
Pavlopoulos's message for Rivlin
Friday, between Rivlin's meetings, the recording was played for him, and he was moved by the exceptional gesture. He instructed his political advisor to thank the president of the Hellenic Republic in his name and in the name of the people of Israel.
Reuven Rivlin (L) and Prokopios Pavlopoulos (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
On Friday and Saturday, more than 90 planes returned world leaders to their countries of origin from Peres's funeral. A further 80,000 private citizens travelled through Ben Gurion Airport that time.
