Israel’s parliament on Tuesday chose Reuven Rivlin, a veteran politician and supporter of the Jewish settlement movement, as the country’s next president, putting a man opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state into the ceremonial, but influential post.
Rivlin, a stalwart of the ruling Likud Party, now faces the tough task of succeeding Israeli President Shimon Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who became an all-star on the international stage.
The 90-year-old Peres, whose political career stretches back decades and is an proponent of peace with the Palestinians, brought the office of the president international renown. He also restored honor to the position after it was tarnished by his predecessor, Moshe Katsav, being convicted of rape.
While Israel’s presidency is largely ceremonial, Rivlin’s political views could be a liability when he represents the country overseas. His opposition to Palestinian independence puts him at odds with the international community and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rivlin dismissed speculation that he might be upset at Netanyahu, who tried to block his candidacy, saying he was “not angry at anyone.”
In a bid to lay to rest the rivalry, Netanyahu congratulated Rivlin and said he would work with him.
“I know you will do all you can as president and I promise that I as prime minister ... will do the same with you,” he said.
Rivlin is to be sworn into office for a single, seven-year term on July 24. The 74-year-old lawmaker has previously served as speaker of parliament and as an Israeli Cabinet minister. He has been a longtime supporter of Jewish settlements in occupied lands claimed by the Palestinians. While rejecting Palestinian independence, he has proposed a special union with the Palestinians in which Jews and Arabs would hold common citizenship, but vote for separate parliaments.
The president is meant to serve as a unifying figure and moral compass for the country and Rivlin has said that in contrast to Peres, he would focus on domestic affairs if selected.
Speaking at a Knesset ceremony to celebrate his win, Rivlin said his new role “commits me to remove the robe of politics,” in an indication that he may subdue his political beliefs as president.
“I am not a man of a [political] movement. I am a man of everyone. A man of the people,” he said.
While most political power is held by the prime minister, the president plays several key roles, with the power to pardon prisoners and choose the prime minister after national elections.
In this role, the president selects a Knesset member to form a majority coalition after elections. This has usually been the leader of the party with the most seats in parliament, but with the rise of a number of midsize parties in parliament, Rivlin could theoretically have more influence over choosing the prime minister.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN