Straight Talk from the President (of Israel)

Arutz Sheva ^ | 4/24/2002

[anotherview]

Straight Talk From The President

In face of the world's demand to investigate Israel's behavior during the Jenin battles, President Moshe Katzav had this to say today:

"With all due respect to self-righteousness, the international community must stop applying a double-standard. I do not understand why the world community has been silent for over one and a half years in the face of the cruel and brutal massacres that have been perpetrated against the Jewish population throughout the country.

"The world has been silent even as terrorists have taken over the Church of the Nativity, looted it and desecrated it.

"The world has been silent even as terrorists have used ambulances to smuggle weapons and murderers. "The world has been silent even as mosques have been turned into armories.

"The world has been silent even as primitive, brutal and shocking lynchings have been perpetrated in Nablus [Shechem], Ramallah and Hebron.

"Since our hands are clean, Israel has agreed to a fact-finding mission into what took place in Jenin, where soldiers were killed and wounded merely because we didn't want to harm Palestinian civilians. Israel will not agree to being branded with a mark of shame since our hands are clean. If the UN wants to inquire into what took place, it is welcome - but the inquiry must be held without pre-formed opinions and with clean hands."

[smith288]

We need more leaders like the Israeli president! We dont hear from him much, but im glad he said something.

[Delbert]

Regarding Israeli govt structure, whats this guys job anyway? as stated above, we dont hear much from him...Is it mostly ceremonial? All I ever hear from Israel politically ,comes from office of prime minister.

[anotherview]

Yes, indeed, it is a ceremonial post for the most part. Israel returned to it's original voting system after the last election and abolished the direct election of the Prime Minister. This restored to the President his one real and important political power: to decide whom to ask to form a government after an election.

It is generally assumed that the leader of whichever party wins the most seats in the Knesset will be the new Prime Minister and form a government. In fact, while this is usually the case, it isn't always.

If the chosen party fails to form a government, the President then decides whether or not to let another party try or to call new elections.

Other than that, yes, it's ceremonial.