Presidency of Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres announced his candidacy for the Israeli presidency in early June 2007, seven years after losing the 2000 presidential election.[1] His predecessor, Moshe Katsav, had stepped down amid sexual-assault allegations, leaving the office vacant ahead of schedule.[2]

The election was held by secret ballot in the Knesset on 13 June 2007. Peres, a Kadima candidate and former Labor leader, faced Likud's Reuven Rivlin and Labor's Colette Avital.[3] In the first round, Peres received 58 votes, Rivlin 37, and Avital 21.[2] Rivlin and Avital then withdrew and supported Peres, who won the second round by 86 votes to 23, with eight abstentions, two invalid ballots, and one absentee.[4] Peres was 83 at the time.[3]

The result marked the first election of a former Israeli prime minister to the presidency, making Peres the first person to serve in both offices.[5] It also ended 48 consecutive years of service in the Knesset, described by the Center for Israel Education as the longest such tenure in Israeli history.[6]

Peres was sworn in before the Knesset as Israel's ninth president in mid-July 2007.[4][7] In his inaugural address, he recalled David Ben-Gurion as "the greatest Jew I knew" and said he had learned that "the magnitude of salvation is derived from the magnitude of the distress." He argued that moral considerations should guide national decisions and that opportunities for peace should not be missed.[8]

Civic equality became a recurring presidential theme. Peres reflected on Israel's growth from 650,000 inhabitants at independence to 7.2 million citizens, including 1.2 million non-Jews, and declared: "I knew then, as I know today, that if they do not enjoy complete equality, we will not be at peace with ourselves or with our fellowman."[7]

He identified four development priorities: reviving Jerusalem as a center of learning, developing the Negev, creating an equality-based industry in the Galilee, and establishing a "Valley of Peace" to promote cooperation among Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians. He also pledged to strengthen Israel-Diaspora relations and encourage constructive relations with Arab countries.[7]

Peres explained his approach to the largely ceremonial office by saying: "The president does not have a lot of power, but he has the authority to do good deeds and to express enthusiastic faith."[9]

Under Israel's constitutional framework, the president served as head of state while the prime minister headed the government.[3] The Knesset elected the president for a single seven-year term, and the president consulted party leaders before assigning a Knesset member the task of forming a coalition.[10] Other presidential duties included considering pardons, hosting foreign leaders and national ceremonies, meeting security officials, visiting bereaved families, and addressing the public during crises.[11]

The office's role in government formation became especially visible in 2008. After Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tendered his resignation on 21 September, Peres designated Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to form a government the following day. When Livni reported that she could not assemble a coalition, Peres called for the Knesset's dissolution and early elections, while Olmert continued as caretaker prime minister.[3]

Peres also formally opened the 19th Knesset in 2013. He urged legislators to pursue social reform, reduce the deficit, restore economic growth, and bridge the divide between wealthy and poor citizens. He said that 900,000 children were deprived of adequate food and tens of thousands were deprived of education, and described Israel as "an island in a raging ocean" that had to defend itself while seeking to calm its surroundings.[12]

Near the end of his tenure, Peres defended the presidency's continued relevance by distinguishing the executive government from a head of state who represented the public domestically and internationally.[11]

Peres used the presidency for sustained international diplomacy, maintaining an intensive schedule of meetings with heads of state, legislators, and international organizations.[9] He left partisan politics after taking office and became a prominent symbolic representative of Israel abroad.[13]

His relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama was among the most visible engagements of his tenure. Peres made working visits to the United States on 4–5 April 2011 and 13 June 2012.[14] During the latter visit, Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, for his "meritorious contributions to world peace."[5] Obama called Peres "a true founding father," while Peres accepted the medal on behalf of the people of Israel. Approximately 140 guests attended the ceremony.[15]

The award citation credited Peres with a major role in the peace talks that produced the Oslo Accords, described him as "an ardent advocate for Israel's security and the cause of lasting peace," and highlighted his contribution to Israel's high-technology sector.[16]

Peres also expanded ties elsewhere. A Jerusalem Center analysis placed his June 2009 visit to Kazakhstan within Israeli outreach to the secular Muslim states of Central Asia and the Caspian region.[17] His 2009 visit to Azerbaijan coincided with expanded military and industrial relations, including plans by Aeronautics Defense Systems to build a factory in Baku.[18] In December 2011, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir made his first official visit to Israel; Peres called it "a moving and historic moment" and recalled Israeli agricultural and infrastructure assistance to southern Sudan in the 1960s.[19]

Near the end of his term, Peres joined Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Pope Francis at a Vatican peace gathering. Susan E. Rice described the desired outcome as a secure, democratic Jewish state beside a viable, independent Palestinian state and noted that Peres had worked with every American president since John F. Kennedy.[20]

A recurring initiative of Peres's presidency was the Israeli Presidential Conference, an annual Jerusalem gathering of international leaders from government, science, technology, business, and culture.[21]

The 2008 conference attracted more than 5,000 guests from 50 countries.[22] The October 2009 conference was organized around the theme "Face Tomorrow." Susan E. Rice, then the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, linked its agenda to turning crises into opportunities and to cooperation in renewable energy, irrigation, solar power, and electric vehicles.[23]

The conferences showcased Israeli scientific and intellectual achievements while providing Peres with an international platform for his arguments about peace, security, and technological cooperation.

Throughout his presidency, Peres remained a prominent advocate of a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian settlement and repeatedly framed the two-state model as necessary to Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state.

At a World Jewish Congress Governing Board meeting attended by more than 300 delegates and guests, Peres called the peace process "the most important task of our time." He endorsed "two states for two peoples" and a democratic, demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel, stating that "all other solutions are dangerous."[24] A Jerusalem Center primer also reported that Peres expressed positive views of the Arab Peace Initiative on several occasions in late 2008.[25]

At the 2012 Medal of Freedom ceremony, Peres described peace with the Palestinians as urgent, necessary, crucial, and possible. He proposed "a solution of two national states — a Jewish state — Israel; an Arab state — Palestine," and said the Palestinians might become Israel's closest friends.[16]

In his farewell address, Peres again presented two states for two peoples as necessary to preserve Israel's Jewish and democratic character. He connected peace with security, declaring: "There is no permanent security without permanent peace. Just as there is no real peace without real security."[26]

An official presidential analysis states that Peres sometimes met secretly with senior Palestinian officials without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's knowledge and at other times coordinated with Netanyahu, Obama, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. It also says that Peres took credit for placing the phrase "two states" in Netanyahu's Bar-Ilan University speech.[27]

Peres accompanied his peace advocacy with forceful statements about threats to Israeli and international security.

In a 2013 address to the European Parliament, described by the source as the first speech by an Israeli president to the directly elected parliament of the European Union, Peres called Iran "the greatest danger to peace in the world." He characterized its government as a dictatorship cloaked in religion and warned that a nuclear weapon in the hands of an irresponsible regime would endanger the international order. He also urged European governments to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, describing it as an Iranian-supported terrorist organization rather than a political movement.[28]

In Washington in 2012, Peres said Iran's leadership threatened world peace and supported international efforts, including economic sanctions, to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.[15]

During the 2014 war with Hamas in Gaza, Peres described images from Gaza as "heart-breaking" and spoke about the pain of visiting the families of fallen Israeli soldiers. He distinguished civilians from Hamas, saying: "The Palestinian people are not our enemies. The people of Gaza are not our enemies. Only terrorist organizations such as Hamas are our enemies," while affirming Israel's right and responsibility to defend itself.[11] In his farewell speech, he attributed the conflict to Hamas rocket fire and attack tunnels and accused Hamas of diverting civilian resources to terrorism.[26]

The promotion of Israeli innovation was another defining theme of Peres's presidency. His official presidential biography credits him with promoting high technology, nanotechnology, scientific education, environmental protection, and alternative energy.[22]

At the 2012 Medal of Freedom ceremony, Peres argued that Israel's shortage of land and water had compelled it to rely on human creativity, knowledge, and science. He credited science with helping Israel absorb millions of immigrants, improve agricultural production, and build an effective defense against larger adversaries.[16] He envisioned Israel as a center of brain research and described Jerusalem as "the capital of peace" and Israel as "a scientific center open to all, serving all without discrimination."[16]

Obama's award citation also recognized Peres's role in sparking Israel's high-technology sector.[16] The Presidential Conference complemented this message by bringing scientific and technological discussions into a forum that also addressed diplomacy, security, and regional cooperation.[21]

Peres received several prominent international distinctions during his presidency. In 2008, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.[29] Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in June 2012.[5] At a dinner on 25 June 2014, Susan E. Rice noted that Peres was due to receive the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal the following day.[20]

The World Jewish Congress presented him with its Theodor Herzl Award in December 2012.[9] In November 2007, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion awarded him the Dr. Bernard Heller Prize. HUC-JIR President Rabbi David Ellenson praised Peres's leadership, statecraft, commitment to Jewish tradition, and vision for a peaceful Middle East.[30]

The awards came from governments, a global Jewish organization, and an academic institution, reflecting the international stature Peres attained during his presidential term.

In April 2013, Peres announced that he would not seek to extend his tenure beyond 2014. Reuven Rivlin, his opponent in the 2007 election, was elected president on 10 June 2014 and succeeded him in July as Israel's tenth president.[5]

In his farewell address to the Knesset, Peres said: "I came to thank you for the privilege you granted me to serve our country and its people for the past seven years. There is no greater privilege." He reaffirmed his support for a Jewish and democratic Israel that guaranteed equality to Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouins, and Circassians.[26]

He again connected the two-state framework with Israel's identity and argued that peace and security were inseparable. Discussing the Gaza war, he presented Hamas rocket attacks, tunnels, and the diversion of civilian infrastructure to terrorism as the causes of the fighting.[26]

Peres ended by declaring that he was leaving the presidency but not his obligations as a citizen.[6] After leaving office, he returned to lead the Peres Center for Peace.[31] Rabbi Jonathan Sacks later recorded that Peres launched the Israeli Innovation Center in July 2016.[32]

Peres left office in 2014 with a substantially different public image from the divisive partisan reputation that had followed much of his earlier career. The Times of Israel described him as more widely respected domestically at the end of his presidency than at any previous stage of his political life, while noting that critics continued to associate him with the Oslo process and disputed security policies.[13]

The Peres Center for Peace, established in 1996, continued promoting cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians in medicine, healthcare, sport, the arts, business, and environmental work.[32]

Peres also left a presidential vision of Israel as a scientific and constructive national project. He described Israel as "a great story of construction" and "a bold intellectual-scientific laboratory on a global scale." He connected that vision with national resilience, moral conduct, the political neutrality of the military, and the principle that security and peace could not be separated.[8]

Interpretations of Peres's presidency frequently emphasize his transition from partisan politician to elder statesman. A Jewish Review of Books profile called him Israel's "elder statesman par excellence" and presented him as a link between the founding generation and contemporary Israel.[33]

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks offered a favorable interpretation, describing Peres as a founding-generation leader who began as a hawk and ended as a dove and who "never despaired of peace with the Palestinians, no matter how many times he failed."[32] Other assessments remained more critical, especially regarding Oslo, the limits of presidential political intervention, and Peres's confidence in negotiated peace.[13]

Peres's use of a largely ceremonial presidency for active political engagement sometimes generated friction with the elected government. In 2012, as Prime Minister Netanyahu considered a possible Israeli preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, Peres publicly said that Israel could not "go it alone." Likud figures called the statement "a gross attack on the elected government's official policy," and one lawmaker suggested that Peres should be impeached. Former president Yitzhak Navon defended Peres's right and obligation to speak on an issue he considered nationally consequential.[13]

His behind-the-scenes Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy was also controversial. An official analysis states that Peres sometimes met senior Palestinian officials without Netanyahu's knowledge while seeking to advance negotiations beyond the government's publicly stated position.[27]

His broader peace legacy remained contested. Admirers regarded the presidency as a sustained effort to advance reconciliation and national unity, while critics, particularly on the political right, continued to associate Peres with the Oslo process and what they regarded as its security failures.[13]