Reuven Rivlin

Born in September 1939, Rivlin came up through Likud and Israeli parliamentary life, serving as Minister of Communications from 2001 to 2003 before two stints as Speaker of the Knesset—2003 to 2006, then 2009 to 2013. Elected president in June 2014, he spent seven years in the largely ceremonial role arguing for what he calls Greater Israel: not as exclusion but as full inclusion, extending Israeli citizenship to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza under a one-state solution. It put him at odds with the dominant two-state consensus and with much of his own party. His term ended in July 2021…