Veteran politician Isaac Herzog was elected as Israel’s eleventh president.
Herzog, the former head of the Labor Party and an opposition leader who unsuccessfully ran against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2015 parliamentary elections, was selected by secret ballots among the 120 members of the Knesset, or parliament.
He defeated outsider Miriam Peretz, who is more aligned with Israel’s conservative and nationalist groups.
“I intend to be the president of everyone,” Herzog said, as reported the Associated Press. “We must defend Israel’s international status and its good reputation in the family of nations, fight antisemitism and hatred of Israel, and preserve the pillars of our democracy. “
Speak Your Mind