Interim and Acting President of Israel
Interim President of the State of Israel and Acting President of the State of Israel are temporary posts established by Israeli Basic Law.
They are two different offices, the Interim President in case of presidential vacancy, and Acting President when the President remains in office but temporarily cannot fulfill his or her duties.
Interim President
The Basic Law states that in case of the death, resignation or removal from office of the President, the Speaker of the Knesset shall become Interim President:
If the place of the President of the State has fallen vacant, and so long as the new President has not yet begun to hold office, the Speaker of the Knesset shall hold office as Interim President of the State[1]
An Interim President, who retains his post of Knesset Speaker, serves until the Knesset chooses a new President.
The following individuals have served as Interim President:
- Yosef Sprinzak (November 9 – December 8, 1953)
- Kadish Luz (April 23 – May 21, 1963)
- Avraham Burg (July 13 – August 1, 2000)
- Dalia Itzik (July 1 – July 15, 2007)
Acting President
During a period in which the President of the State has temporarily ceased to carry out his functions and exercise his powers, the Speaker of the Knesset shall hold office as Acting President of the State[1]
Disregarding cases in which the President is outside Israel (and is legally deemed to "cease to carry out his functions and exercise his powers"), the most recent person to serve as Acting President was Dalia Itzik, when Moshe Katzav was suspended. However, when including those cases, the most recent person to serve as Acting President was Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, when Reuven Rivlin was on a State Visit to Vietnam.
Majalli Wahabi, briefly became Israel's Acting President due to Moshe Katzav's leave of absence and Dalia Itzik's trip abroad in February 2007, making him the first non-Jew (Druze) to act as Israel's head of state.