Netanyahu to Rename Nuclear Center after Peres

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to rename the Negev Nuclear Research Center after the late Shimon Peres.

"Shimon Peres worked greatly to establish this important enterprise, an enterprise that is important to the security of Israel for generations, and I think that it would be right and proper to rename the center after him," Netanyahu told cabinet members at the weekly meeting.

Peres helped establish Israel's nuclear program while serving as director general of the Ministry of Defense in the 1950s. He went on to serve 48 years in the Knesset, leaving in 2007 to become the nation's ninth president until 2014 when he stepped down.

Peres died two weeks after suffering a major stroke. Israel honored his memory at a state ceremony in Jerusalem two days before Rosh Hashanah. Dozens of international leaders and diplomats traveled to Jerusalem to pay tribute to Israel's elder statesman.