French FM and Nadav Peres
French FM and Nadav PeresPeres Center for Peace and Innovation

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited the Mount Herzl military cemetery Tuesday.

During his visit, Le Drian thanked the Peres family for the great contribution of former President Shimon Peres to the development of a positive Israel-France relationship.

Nadav Peres, the grandson of Shimon Peres, waited at the grave of his grandfather and thanked the French Foreign Minister for his warm words.

"My grandfather admired France and recognized and was grateful until his last day for her tremendous contribution to the security of the State of Israel in its early days, with the establishment of the reactor [in Dimona] and the arms shipments that gave Israel unparalleled deterrence and security."

"I am very moved by the fact that the day has come to lay a wreath on my grandfather's grave, and my thanks are not only my family's, but national thanks of the entire State of Israel," he said.

The French foreign minister told Peres' grandson, "I am very happy to have the opportunity to come here and to pay tribute to Shimon Peres, who is important to me personally and to the entire French people, in light of the great history we have made with extraordinary cooperation. Your grandfather played a key role in building these ties."

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Nadav Peres presented Le Drian with his grandfather's latest book, completed several weeks before his death, and recently translated into French as well. The book contains an entire chapter dedicated to the relations between Israel and France and the story of the construction of the reactor in Dimona.