Widow of Egypt’s Anwar Sadat dies
Herzog expresses condolences, says she promoted peace with Israel
Jehan Sadat, the widow of late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, has died at age 88, the presidency said on Friday.
Sadat, who had been in poor health, was laid to rest on Friday in a military funeral attended by Egypt’s current leader, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, beside her late husband at Egypt’s Unknown Soldier memorial constructed near the site of his assassination.
Shortly after the announcement of her death, Israeli politicians and officials began expressing their condolences to the Sadat family and the Egyptian people.
President Isaac Herzog spoke with Egypt’s Ambassador to Israel Khaled Azmi.
“I was sorry to hear of the passing of Jehan Sadat,” Herzog said. “Jehan stood by President Sadat in the historic act of his visit to Jerusalem and making peace with Israel. She promoted peace with Israel. On behalf of the State of Israel, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the President of Egypt and the Egyptian people.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz also wrote on Twitter that he shares the grief of the Egyptian people over the death of Sadat.
Sadat, who spent a decade as the country’s first lady, was born in 1933, and had four children following her marriage to Anwar Sadat in 1949.
Following her husband’s assassination in 1981, Sadat went on
to teach as well as write, having earned a doctorate in comparative literature from Cairo University.
The presidency said in a statement that Sadat would be posthumously awarded a national medal and have a Cairo highway named after her.
Anwar Sadat participated in the 1952 revolution that overthrew Egypt’s monarchy, and became president in 1970 following the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
He and former prime minister Menachem Begin, under the
guidance of then-US president Jimmy Carter, signed a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
Before the treaty, he fought against Israel in the Yom Kippur War. His assassination in 1981 by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad was largely due to his decision to make peace with Israel.
As first lady, Jehan Sadat took an interest in veterans and those lost in Egypt’s wars, setting up a rehabilitation charity as well as heading Egypt’s Red Crescent Society.
She has been credited in state media with influencing the change of key laws to improve women’s rights, and represented Egypt often in international conferences.