--- description: The Israeli leader has died at 93. Here, see how TIME Magazine covered his rise to political power. title: How Shimon Peres and Israel Grew Up Together image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddab9fd4996413b1/6988a7dbab6d77adf86ab61b/gettyimages-528638688.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Shimon Peres and Israel Grew Up Together  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 28, 2016 2:49 AM CUT  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 28, 2016 2:49 AM CUT Shimon Peres, the Israeli leader who[ died Tuesday at 93](http://time.com/4490146/shimon-peres-israel-president-dead-obituary/ "undefined"), could — like so many of his colleagues — trace his own history alongside that of his country. Born in 1923, he was a quarter-century older than the state of Israel. In his [earliest appearance](http://time.com/vault/issue/1957-05-13/page/34/ "undefined") in the pages of TIME, when he was a young director of the Defense Ministry in 1957, he was worried when and whether Israel would reach a population of 5 million; that population is [now](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-demographics-idUSKCN0RP0Z820150925 "undefined") over 8 million. As the nation grew, so did his career, through a variety of ministry portfolios, several turns as Prime Minister and eventually the presidency. In 1977, when he became leader of Israel’s Labor Party, TIME [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-04-18/page/28/ "undefined") how he got there: --- > “” --- [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter "undefined") But in the years that followed, he would come to believe that the world was changing faster than he was. Though he was “widely regarded as a hawk,” the 1977 story noted, he was beginning to take a more moderate approach to the world. Decades later, in his [most recent major interview with TIME](http://time.com/4224947/exclusive-shimon-peres-on-peace-war-and-israels-future/ "undefined"), he took issue with that idea. That perception that he had gone “from hawk to dove” was a misconception, he said — “I didn’t change. I think the situation has changed” — and he was dedicated to continuing to see Israeli’s evolution through for as long as he could, which he did until the end of his life. “The things that were done belong to the past,” he said. “I’m mainly occupied with the things that can and should be done tomorrow.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4511048/shimon-peres-israel-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4511048/shimon-peres-israel-history/"},"headline":"How Shimon Peres and Israel Grew Up Together","datePublished":"2016-09-28T02:49:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:57:05.450Z","description":"The Israeli leader has died at 93","url":"https://time.com/4511048/shimon-peres-israel-history/","keywords":["remembrance","Israel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddab9fd4996413b1/6988a7dbab6d77adf86ab61b/gettyimages-528638688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltddab9fd4996413b1/6988a7dbab6d77adf86ab61b/gettyimages-528638688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shimon Peres","caption":"Shimon Peres","creditText":"Lior Mizrahi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4511048/shimon-peres-israel-history/","name":"How Shimon Peres and Israel Grew Up Together"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"The Israeli leader has died at 93","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4511048/shimon-peres-israel-history/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4511048/shimon-peres-israel-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```