Reports: Guri, Israeli poet of founding generation, dies

JERUSALEM – Israeli media are reporting that Haim Guri, a leading Israeli poet of the state’s founding generation, has died. He was 94.

President Reuven Rivlin in a statement mourned his passing Wednesday as “the national poet of our time” and a “life teacher.”

Guri was born in Tel Aviv and fought in the Palmach, the elite force of the pre-state militia later serving in Israel’s army, reports said.

He was a prolific and influential poet with songs about the birth of modern Israel that became deeply rooted in the country’s ethos.

He was not shy in airing his political views and was critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Five years ago he told parliament that despite “knowing almost every stone in this land” he now “has difficulty recognizing it.”