At a particularly fractured and uncertain political moment, the Knesset opted for the tried and true in voting overwhelmingly on Wednesday for Isaac Herzog as the country’s 11th president.
The 87 Knesset members who cast a ballot for Herzog voted for a formula that has worked pretty well in the past: an Ashkenazi male former politician widely respected across the political spectrum, a known quantity, someone they can count on to color inside the lines.
Herzog, a mensch and likable man of whom very few have a bad word to say – quite a feat considering the amount of time he has been in public life – is experienced, diplomatic and statesmanlike.
And that is what the vast majority of Knesset members think the country needs at this time: someone experienced, diplomatic and statesmanlike.
Whether Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid is ultimately able to put together a government to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or whether a last-minute bump unhitches the coalition wagon, the country can use a stable hand sitting next to the driver: someone dependable, someone it can count on, someone who knows the road, someone predictable.
And Herzog brings all those qualities. By electing Herzog, the Knesset knows exactly what it is getting, and there is comfort in that. With politics a shambles, there is something to say about voting in a president who knows the job and who is unlikely to surprise.
Surprises are the last thing the country needs right now. It has enough on its plate already. Stability and predictability – if not in government, at least in the presidency – is a definite plus. Herzog will provide Israel with a steady presidency.
To paraphrase what was said about Barack Obama: no-drama Herzog.
Miriam Peretz, whom Herzog roundly defeated, brought a completely different set of skills to the table. Unlike Herzog, she had no political or diplomatic experience. Her English sounds foreign. She does not come from the Zionist aristocracy, and few really know how she would do in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, or a state dinner hosted by US President Joe Biden.
Yet her personal story – the Job-like tragedy of losing two soldier sons in combat, and her husband to natural causes – is a story that deeply touched the nation.
Peretz is a symbol even without the presidency. Many see in her story something personally inspiring, and nationally aspirational: her optimism, her not allowing personal suffering to embitter her or keep her down, her enduring love for the country despite the heavy personal price it has extracted.
And that is why in polls conducted all the way up until a day before the balloting, she was the favored choice of the public, by a wide margin. In a Panels poll aired by the Knesset Channel on Tuesday, had the people voted, Peretz would have handily defeated Herzog. Some 43% said they supported her, 27% Herzog, with the rest either not knowing or having no opinion.
Peretz touched the hearts of the people; Herzog the minds and practical instincts of the parliamentarians.
Herzog’s strength is his experience. He has walked with kings and presidents in the past, and knows how it works.
Even if a government is formed next week, there is absolutely no guarantee about how long it will last, especially since there are such huge ideological gaps among the prospective coalition’s components.
Chances are good that even if Netanyahu is sidelined, the country will be back at the polls in another year. In that case, it is good to have an experienced diplomatic hand to interface with foreign leaders if those who should be doing so – the prime minister and foreign minister – are otherwise disposed.
Peretz brought warmth and an overflowing love of Israel and its people – one she articulates eloquently – to the table. A religious woman born in Morocco who lives beyond the Green Line, she was deemed as someone – because of her story – able to unite disparate parts of the country. She was viewed as a healer.
But it is not as if Herzog is a divider. He, too, is seen as one who walks in the ways of pleasantness. Vote for Peretz and you get a warm woman with an inspirational story who will try mightily to unite the country, hoping her love of the land and its people is contagious.
Vote for Herzog, and you get a decent man who is well connected, with vast political and diplomatic experience, who speaks English fluently and can be a bridge to a Diaspora Jewish community which he knows well, and which in turn has respect for him.
Peretz’s attributes spoke to the people, reeling from four divisive elections and looking for a symbol to rally around. Herzog’s skills spoke to the Knesset.
Shimon Peres, when he was president, was the elder statesman. Outgoing President Reuven Rivlin was the country’s lovable uncle. Peretz, had she won, would have been a Moroccan bubbie (grandma) figure – mixed metaphor intended.
Herzog comes to the job as the super responsible older brother. And that, the Knesset determined in a landslide, is exactly what the country needs at a time when responsibility is not exactly the byword today among the nation’s leaders.