Shimon Peres will be sworn in today as Israel's 9th president because there was no time or will to find a plausible alternative in the wake of the Katzav scandal.
He's obviously not the person the Israeli public would have preferred to have in that office. He's been rejected in every fair contest he's joined to date. But at this point they have very little choice.
Sad.
Peres has contributed tremendously to the State of Israel. There's no denying that, no matter what you think of his politics and his methods of promoting them. But he should exhibit some humility and recognition of the circumstances that finally brought him to this place. And he's not.
Speaking in a live interview broadcast after the 7:00 AM bulletin on Israel Radio's "This Morning" news magazine, Yoram Dori, the man closest to Shimon Peres, who will serve as his top strategic adviser, said that the position of president is a powerful position rather than one void of authority and that Peres would use the presidency to "do what is good for Israel" and "bring peace" with the Arabs.
Dori said Peres would be active when program anchor Arieh Golan asked him if Peres would restrain himself from getting involved in promoting his own agenda in Israel-Arab affairs given that the position of president is a ceremonial role devoid of authority.
Golan then asked how Shimon Peres could take the role Dori described and remain "the president of all Israelis - both left and right."
Dori argued that Peres would be "the president of all Israelis" by virtue of the unprecedented size of the Knesset vote in his favor and poll results showing that most Israelis support his being president.
