As president, it fell to Rivlin to mandate the potential prime ministers following the unprecedented four general elections in just over two years. Unfortunately, it is a distinct possibility that after the fourth election last March, no government will be able to be formed and that it will now be the duty of the next president, who’s first duty will be to make the difficult choice of tasking a Knesset member with the formation of a government, following a fifth election in October of this year.
On June 2, the 120 members of Knesset will register their choice in a secret ballot between the two candidates whose names have been put forward to become the next president. They are Miriam Peretz and Isaac Herzog. The period of office is a single term of seven years.
The presidency is a largely ceremonial position, wielding little real power and should ideally not be held by a former politician. President Rivlin was a career politician, and that became apparent in some of his actions.
Herzog, who is a former chairman of the Labor Party and currently chairman of the Jewish Agency, is thought to be the choice of the Knesset and the front runner. However, the several opinion polls, registering the view of the Israel public show a large majority in favor of Miriam Peretz.
The Israeli public is far more politically informed and intelligent than our politicians believe them to be, or indeed would prefer them to be. Israelis don’t believe that another career politician should be their president. They believe that Miriam Peretz, a teacher by profession who lives in Givat Ze’ev and works as a civil servant at the Education Ministry, best understands the trials and tribulations of ordinary people. Politicians, on the other hand, live in a world spiked with personal animosities and schemes to impose damage on their political opponents. Not exactly the qualities needed in our state president. The Knesset’s decision to elect Miriam Peretz, of Mizrachi origin as our first woman president would be a welcome step, contributing to the equality of opportunity for all our citizens.
The writer, at 97, holds the Guinness World Records as the oldest active journalist and radio show host. He presents ‘Walter’s World’ on Israel National Radio (Arutz 7) and ‘The Walter Bingham File’ on Israel Newstalk Radio. Both are in English.