BACK WHEN WE HAD FRIENDS:

At 10:45 a.m. on 9/11 — minutes after the North Tower of the World Trade Center had collapsed — New York’s cellphone service was almost nonexistent. Yet, as I walked up Third Avenue, my phone rang. Peres was on the line.

“You OK?” he asked. “You know where Don Rumsfeld is? Talk to me.”

“Shimon,” I answered, “I’m the consul general in New York. Rumsfeld runs the Pentagon. How the hell do I know where he is?”

Fine, Peres said. “These sh-ts hit New York! New York! Do you get that? I’m coming over.”

Read the whole thing: Remembering Shimon Peres — the Israeli leader who saw it all.