Chemi Peres, son of Shimon Peres, has said his father would not have approved of “politicians who serve themselves rather than their people” in an attack on current world leaders. 

In an interview with the JC in London, Mr Peres refused to comment directly on Donald Trump. But he was scathing about the current state of global public affairs, and political polarisation in particular. 

The 59-year-old tech entrepreneur and chairman of the Peres Centre for Peace contrasted his “disciplined and optimistic” father, who served as Israeli Prime Minister and President, with current “self-publicising and extremist” leaders. 

“My father believed very much in the importance of leadership. He said leaders should serve their people, and not just exercise their authority. 

“He also thought they should believe in moral values. You should be pushed into politics because you need to make a change, not just to serve yourself. 

“He thought we should be always moving forward into the new era, not just going back in history. The past was full of bloodshed and wars. It should be left behind.”

Mr Peres, the managing general partner and co-founder of tech venture capital firm Pitango, is in the UK to manage the distribution of his late father’s final book, No Room for Small Dreams. 

The final draft was completed two weeks before his father’s death and Mr Peres said he would have been “very pleased and surprised” at its success.