Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
elected with only token opposition. Since 1983, however, the position has been more competi-
tive, with some of the largest parties nominating their own candidates.
The Law on the President specifi es that the role of the president includes signing every bill
before it becomes law; accepting a prime minister's and a government's resignation; oversee-
ing the government's general actions; approving the appointment of Israel's diplomats and
receiving foreign diplomats; approving international treaties and agreements that have been
approved by the Knesset; and participating in the appointment of court judges, rabbinical
dayanim, and other high-profi le state offi cials, such as the governor of the Bank of Israel and
members of the Council of Higher Education.
The president must carry out these tasks regardless of personal preferences. At other times,
the president makes decisions. After elections, the president must select the candidate thought
capable of forming a stable government. The president also has to decide whether to give a
government permission to dissolve itself. The most controversial duty is pardoning criminals
or prisoners deemed to be rehabilitated. The president can erase convictions and reduce sen-
tences or penalties.
Israel's fi rst presidents were men selected because of their high levels of service to the state,
but not necessarily because they were active in politics. Israel's fi rst president was Chaim
Weizmann, a chemist who had been international leader of the Zionist movement for thirty
years. Indeed, that appointment was thought by many to be Ben-Gurion's method of getting
Weizmann out of his way by neutralizing a man who had led the movement abroad but had
no actual experience in the Yishuv.
Following Weizmann's death in 1952, the presidency was offered to another scientist, Albert
Einstein, but he declined, and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi became Israel's second president. He was a
leading fi gure in the Labor Party and Israel's struggle for independence, although he was seen
as a historian rather than a politician. Other presidents followed the pattern of being a scientist
or politician.
ISRAEL'S PRESIDENTS
Name
Years in Offi ce
Chaim Weizmann
1948 -1952
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
1952 -1963
Shneur Zalman Shazar
1963 -1973
Efraim Katzir
1973 -1978
Yitzhak Navon
1978 -1983
Haim Herzog
1983 -1993
Ezer Weizman
1993 -2000
Moshe Katzav
2000 -2007
Shimon Peres
2007-Present
