President Chaim Herzog

Chaim Herzog, born in Belfast in 1918, son of Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, fought in the British Army in the Second World War, twice headed IDF military intelligence and, as ambassador to the United Nations, tore up the "Zionism is racism" resolution at the rostrum in 1975. The Knesset elected him the sixth president in March 1983, and he served two terms, from 5 May 1983 to 13 May 1993.

In 1986 he pardoned the heads of the Shin Bet in the Bus 300 affair before any trial, a decision that stirred fierce debate over the rule of law. In April 1987 he became the first Israeli president to make a state visit to West Germany, and he travelled widely, presenting Israel to the world. A military historian, he wrote The Arab-Israeli Wars. He died in 1997; his son Isaac Herzog became president in 2021.