Ethnicity, Loyalty Issues Lie at Heart of Presidential Election

The competition for the post of Israeli president is usually a bit of a snooze.

Because the vote takes place in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, there isn’t much of a public campaign. Incumbents are rarely challenged. And in the end, the person chosen does not have much power.

In this year’s election, however, President Ezer Weizman is seeking a second term and faces a rival from the ruling Likud-led coalition. The race is forcing government leaders to take sides publicly and has been imbued with emotional themes involving ethnicity and age-old loyalties.

The popular--and controversial--Weizman is being challenged by Shaul Amor, a Moroccan-born immigrant who prospered in Israel and who for the last 20 years has served as mayor of the bustling northern town of Migdal Haemek.

The match between Weizman and Amor has been seen as a battle between the nation’s two elites, which goes to the heart of the debate over Israeli identity and entitlement.

The nephew of Israel’s first president, Weizman represents the traditional elite made up of the founding fathers of the Jewish state. He helped build and then commanded the Israeli air force, and he has long been a fixture in national politics.

Amor, on the other hand, immigrated to Israel in 1956. Like thousands of Jews who came to Israel in the 1950s and ‘60s, he forms the new Israeli elite of onetime outsiders who have enjoyed economic and political success.

Weizman is an Ashkenazi Jew, the European-origin Jews who still dominate Israeli power structures, while Amor is Sephardic, the name for Jews of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. The schism between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish communities is one of the numerous divides in modern-day Israeli society.

Amor, a 10-year veteran of the Knesset, says his election would show that “a boy who grew up in an immigrant camp” can ascend to the presidency of the nation.

The Likud Party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu probably sees other, more expedient benefits to backing Amor.

Weizman, 73, has earned a reputation as a blunt-talking critic of government policies. He has transformed the traditionally reserved and statesmanlike role of president into that of an annoying thorn in the side for some, persistent advocate for others.

He has also incurred Netanyahu’s wrath on several occasions, once for suggesting to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that she pressure the premier into making peace with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu has publicly endorsed Amor in Wednesday’s election, the first time a government has refused to back the incumbent.

“Weizman is the enfant terrible of Israeli politics. . . ,” Israeli historian and writer Tom Segev said. “If he is reelected, he will annoy the government even more. He . . . could make trouble” for Netanyahu.

Amor has made it clear that he would not use the office as a bully pulpit. “I think Israel needs a president who doesn’t interfere in politics,” he told the Haaretz newspaper.

Another emotional chord in the race was struck by Leah Rabin, widow of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. She is backing Amor. The reason: bitterness toward Weizman, who often criticized her late husband.