Michael Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion’s biographer, is running for president

He vowed to continue the efforts of Peres as president to open Israel to the leaders of the world and the efforts of current President Reuven Rivlin to reach out to ordinary Israelis.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Michael Bar-Zohar. (photo credit: GIL BAR ZOHAR)
Michael Bar-Zohar.
(photo credit: GIL BAR ZOHAR)
Michael Bar-Zohar has served in the Knesset, chased Nazis in South America, fought as a paratrooper in Israel’s wars, served as a professor at a top American university and written the official biographies of David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres.
The desire to help the State of Israel and the Jewish people that drove Bar-Zohar to all those adventures has pushed him to run for president in elections that must be held by June 9. To that end, Bar-Zohar has been meeting MKs and persuading them that he has the qualifications for president that Ben-Gurion set seven decades ago.
“Ben-Gurion said the president should be devoted to the unity of the nation, identified with the creation and existence of the State of Israel and a man of letters [intellectual],” Bar-Zohar said in an interview in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Bar-Zohar, 83, was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1938 and moved to Israel in 1948. He has written 18 books, taught at Emory University in Atlanta, defended Israel around the world and served in the Knesset twice. It was Ben-Gurion, who he shadowed for some 15 years, who inspired him to enter politics.
A year ago, Bar-Zohar founded the Unity Movement to work on solving the country’s internal rifts, which he believes are the greatest danger to Israel’s existence. He decided that healing those rifts can best be done from the President’s Residence.
Among the rifts that concern him most is that of American Jews with Israel. He believes Israelis need to treat American Jews better.
If elected, he tends to implement a plan he calls his “ten commandments.” He vowed to continue the efforts of Peres as president to open Israel to the leaders of the world and the efforts of current President Reuven Rivlin to reach out to ordinary Israelis.
“The president can do a lot the government cannot do,” Bar-Zohar said.
In his meeting with MKs, Bar-Zohar stressed his experience working with all leaders of Israel like Ben-Gurion, Peres, Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin. He also served in the Knesset with Netanyahu and co-sponsored the direct election law that led to Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Sharon being elected directly.
“What matters in these meetings is the impression you leave behind,” he said. “I am the history of Israel. It doesn’t compare with anyone. I have a better record than anyone else running. No one else has a real plan for the future like mine.”

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By law, the date for the election must be set by the Knesset speaker and his deputies. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin’s deputies were approved on Monday, but a spokesman for Levin said he decided not to deal with the race for president yet.
The ongoing efforts to form a government could result in the election of a different Knesset speaker. Because the race must be at least three weeks, the last date for it to be set is May 19.
Other presidential candidates are expected to include former Labor Party chairmen Isaac Herzog and Amir Peretz, former Labor Party minister Shimon Shetreet, former Likud MK Yehudah Glick, solar energy pioneer Yosef Abramowitz and possibly Israel Prize-winning educator Miriam Peretz (no relation to Amir) and singer Yehoram Gaon.
Each candidate must submit the endorsements of ten MKs in order to run. The vote will take place in the Knesset by secret ballot.
“Before the election for president, MKs will be under pressure to support different candidates, but when they are all alone behind the curtain, their feelings in their hearts and devotion are only to the good of the State of Israel,” Bar-Zohar said. “I really believe in my chances.”


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