Presidential politics – Israeli style

   If all went well in the Knesset vote on Tuesday, then by the time you read this column you will already know who has been elected as Israel’s tenth president. 

   If your reaction to the last sentence was “who cares?”, then you’re in good company. Most Israelis want to abolish this purely symbolic and totally powerless taxpayer funded position in favor of a strong, “Head of State” president, who appoints the cabinet, including the prime minister, based on political and/or coalition considerations.  
   So before it goes the way of the Dodo, let’s look at how this position was created, why it is powerless, how it’s filled, and some intriguing trivia about past presidents of Israel, the two world famous celebrities who turned the job down, and how, in 2007, an Israeli Arab was actually president of the Jewish State.
   Here is how the presidency evolved:
   From the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948 until the elections and installation of the first Knesset in February 1949, Israel’s interim legislature and governing body was the self-appointed Provisional State Council whose chairman, first David Ben-Gurion and after him Chaim Weizmann, was the de-facto president of Israel.
   To say that Ben Gurion and Weizmann did not get along is an understatement. While both strove for decades in the Zionist movement to bring about the establishment of an independent Jewish state, they argued fiercely and publically about the ideology, methodology, tactics and even timetable of fulfilling the Zionist dream. 
   Though both were great Zionist leaders, it was a political given that while Ben Gurion would be the first Israeli prime minister, the ailing Weizmann would have to be given a position of prestige in the new state he was so instrumental in creating (including being personally responsible for getting the 1917 “Balfour Declaration”).
    According to most historians, Ben Gurion only agreed to give Weizmann the presidency if it was stripped of any power or authority that was not purely ceremonial. He then had the Provisional State Council draft and pass interim Basic Laws defining the establishment, functions and authorities of the Knesset, government, prime minister, cabinet and…the powerless president. Essentially the function of the president is to represent Israel at international events and ceremonies (every official trip must be authorized by the government), and represent the government domestically (state ceremonies, etc.).  It’s clear that Ben Gurion tailored the job to keep Weitzman busy with the fluff stuff, thus leaving him free to run the country. 
   So what does the Israeli president actually do?  As in most parliamentary democracies or monarchies, the president, as titular “Head of State”, under the recommendation of the Knesset or appropriate government ministers:

1. Signs every law except those that pertain to the President's powers (no veto rights)
2. Signs International or bilateral treaties approved by the Knesset
3. Endorses the credentials of Israeli ambassadors and receives the credentials of foreign diplomats
4. Ceremonially appoints the Governor of the Bank of Israel and the State Comptroller, as well as heads of other government agencies, upon recommendation of the Knesset House Committee.
5. Ceremonially appoints the prime minister after an election
6. Ceremonially appoints judges to courts, including the Supreme Court, after appointment by the Judicial Selection Committee
7. Has the power to pardon or commute the sentences of soldiers, civilians and terrorists (this controversial power is being tightened by the Knesset this week following the prisoner releases during the recent failed peace talks, and the US release of five senior Taliban commanders from Gitmo.

   Here are some interesting “presidential” anecdotes:

• Oldest ever in office: Shimon Peres, currently 90
• Youngest ever: Moshe Katsav, 54 when elected. Currently serving time for rape.
• When Chaim Weizmann died in 1952, Ben Gurion offered the position to Albert Einstein, who despite being a great Zionist and supporter of Israel, politely declined saying: “I have neither the natural ability nor the experience to deal with human beings.” 
• Weizmann’s, nephew, Ezer Weizmann was Israel’s 7th president
• No woman has ever been elected president by the Knesset, though…
• When the president is out of Israel or cannot function, the Speaker of the Knesset becomes acting president. So when Moshe Katsav took leave of absence on January 25, 2007 because of the police investigation, Dalia Itzik, as Speaker, became for six months Israel’s first female President. 
• She is one of the five candidates running to replace Peres this week. 
• An Arab president of Israel? Yup: When Itzik travelled to the US in February 2007, deputy speaker Majalli Wahabi assumed the position of President making him the first non-Jew and the first Arab to act, even if only briefly, as Israel's head of state.

   Now back to this week’s election. Here is the latest juicy story, hot from the press. It takes us back to the Ben Gurion – Weizmann feud.
   It seems that Bibi, reading the Knesset tea leaves last week, got so enraged that his arch-rival in the Likud party, former Knesset Speaker (and sometimes acting president) Ruby Rivlin was the clear front-runner in the presidential race, that Bibi decided to pull a last minute “Hail Mary” maneuver…he called Elie Wiesel in New York and despite the fact that Wiesel is not an Israeli citizen and has never lived in Israel…offered him the presidency. 
   Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea reported in Yediot Aharonot that Wiesel told him that Netanyahu telephoned him three times in New York and told him, “You will be the president of the State of Israel. It's all arranged. All you have to do is say yes”. When Wiesel said he would think about he received numerous high pressure calls from “mutual friends” trying to talk him into it. 
   Eventually Wiesel, 86, gave an answer similar to Einstein’s 62 years ago.  “The pressure was heavy, but I know how to withstand pressure…To be the president of Israel? Oh, come on. That's not for me. I write books. I’m not cut out for that.”
   What did Bibi do? He called Rivlin and said: “We have undergone many things in our lives, better days and days that were less so, and I hope that we will have better days. I waited to see the final list of the candidates, and as prime minister and chairman of the Likud I express my support for your candidacy.”
   Later that day Rivlin issued a short statement: “I thank the prime minister for his support for my candidacy for president of the State of Israel.”  
   So who is Israel’s tenth president? Does it really matter?  Nope. What matters is that in Israel everything is exciting – even a backwater Knesset vote for an inconsequential, maybe soon to disappear job…
     Agree or disagree, that’s my opinion.

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed above the writer’s, and do not represent SWJC directors, officers or members