Democracy is a system that has both a body and a soul, and one cannot exist without the other. If the Knesset is the scene of debate, decision, and frequently also of the minority’s surrender to the majority—the President’s Residence is a place for dialogue, partnership, and compromise. In this sense, the presidency constitutes the “additional soul” of the democratic system. The President’s Residence is a home where there is no preference for the majority over the minority or for the strong over the weak; it is a house whose door is open to all and whose occupant is attentive to the basic issues that affect Israeli society.

In the absence of a constitution that would give explicit expression to Israel’s ethical foundations, set clear boundaries between the several branches of government, and would buttress the defenses that protect the minority from the majority and the majority from the minority—the presidency takes on additional importance. The President’s Residence is where all social currents and ethnic communities receive equal recognition. The method by which the president is elected reflects the aspiration to realize this democratic ideal by trying to ensure that the incumbent enjoys a broad consensus that transcends all the rival camps.

On the constitutional level, the president is more a symbol than a center of authority. The constitutional powers granted him, too, are largely symbolic. This is the case, for example, with the president’s right to grant clemency: here the president must be guided by the position of the legal system and respect its recommendation, so that his signature is only a formality. The same applies to the president’s ostensible power to hand over the keys for the formation of a new Government. I say “ostensible,” because this authority is only apparent and rarely has any practical meaning. The history of Israeli politics shows that it is the results at the polls that determine who forms the Government. Furthermore, it is the Knesset that is charged with voting confidence or no-confidence in the Government.

Read the article in full at Times of Israel.