Yes. Israel has both a president and a prime minister, and the two jobs are not variations on the same role. The president is the head of state, a largely ceremonial position meant to represent the country as a whole. The prime minister is the head of government and holds the real executive power. As of 2025, Isaac Herzog is president, having taken office in July 2021, and Benjamin Netanyahu is prime minister, leading the government since late 2022.1The President of the State of Israel. President of the State of Israel – Isaac Herzog
Israel is a parliamentary democracy without a single written constitution. It operates under a series of Basic Laws passed by the Knesset, the 120-member parliament. Two of those laws set the ground rules here: Basic Law: The President of the State, and Basic Law: The Government. The split between a symbolic head of state and an active head of government runs through both.
What the President Does
The presidency is almost entirely ceremonial. The office represents the nation rather than any party, and the president stays out of day-to-day legislative fights. In practice, that means hosting foreign dignitaries, representing Israel on official visits abroad, presiding over state ceremonies, and recognizing citizens for exceptional contributions.
A handful of presidential powers do carry legal weight. Every law the Knesset passes must be signed by the president, along with the prime minister and the relevant cabinet minister, before it takes effect. Laws that directly concern the powers of the presidency itself are the one exception and do not need the president’s signature.2The Knesset. Basic Law: The President of the State
The president can also pardon criminal offenders or reduce their sentences. Pardon decisions are made based on information and opinions gathered from the minister of justice or the minister of defense, and victims of violent or sexual offenses have a legal right to submit their views before a decision is made.3The President of the State of Israel. Presidential Pardons
The president’s most consequential power is political rather than legal. After each national election, the president decides which member of the Knesset gets the first chance to try to form a government. That choice can shape the direction of an entire administration.
What the Prime Minister Does
The prime minister runs the country. The office sets national policy, directs the cabinet, manages foreign relations, and oversees national security decisions. The government as a whole is collectively responsible to the Knesset, but the prime minister sets the agenda and coordinates the work of individual ministers across their departments.4International Labour Organization (NATLEX). Basic Law: The Government
The prime minister also has broad authority to fire cabinet ministers. Under Basic Law: The Government, the prime minister can remove a minister after informing the cabinet, and the law does not require any specific grounds for dismissal.
Because Israel’s proportional election system almost never produces a single-party majority, the prime minister has to build and maintain a coalition of multiple parties to govern. The job is as much political negotiation as it is policymaking, and losing coalition partners can bring down the whole government.
Removing a sitting prime minister through parliament is deliberately hard. Israel uses a constructive no-confidence rule: the Knesset cannot simply vote a government out. A no-confidence motion must simultaneously propose an alternative prime minister who can form a new government, and it needs an absolute majority of 61 out of 120 members to pass. In practice, Israeli governments more often end through coalition collapse or early elections than through formal no-confidence votes.4International Labour Organization (NATLEX). Basic Law: The Government
How Each Leader Is Chosen
The two offices are filled through completely different processes.
The President
The Knesset elects the president by secret ballot at a special session dedicated solely to that purpose. The president serves a single seven-year term and cannot be re-elected.5The Knesset. President of the State The long, non-renewable term is intentional. A president who never has to campaign again is insulated from electoral pressure and can stay above party politics.
The Prime Minister
The prime minister reaches office through a process that begins after every national election. The president consults with representatives of all party factions in the Knesset to gauge which member has the best chance of assembling a working coalition. That person, often but not always the leader of the largest party, receives a mandate to form a government within 28 days. The president can extend this period by up to 14 additional days.4International Labour Organization (NATLEX). Basic Law: The Government
If that candidate fails, the president consults the factions again and may assign the task to a different Knesset member, who also gets 28 days.6The Knesset. Basic Law: The Government The new government officially takes office only after winning a confidence vote in the Knesset. If no one can put together a majority coalition, the country heads to fresh elections.
Term Limits and Removal
The president’s single seven-year term is a hard cap with no exceptions. The Knesset can remove a sitting president before the term ends, but only for misconduct, and only by a vote of three-quarters of its members, 90 out of 120. No president has ever been removed this way.2The Knesset. Basic Law: The President of the State
There are no term limits for the prime minister. Israeli law places no restriction on how many times a person can serve or how many consecutive years they can hold the office. Benjamin Netanyahu, for instance, has served as prime minister across multiple non-consecutive periods spanning decades.
A sitting prime minister does not have to resign even if criminally indicted. Under the Basic Law, a prime minister is only required to leave office after a final conviction for an offense involving moral turpitude, and a conviction is considered final only after all appeals have been exhausted. That means a prime minister can remain in office throughout a trial and the entire appellate process.
Where the Two Offices Meet
The president and prime minister operate in distinct lanes, but their paths cross at a few defined points. The law-signing process is the most visible, since every new law needs the president’s signature alongside the prime minister’s. The president’s role in choosing who gets the first shot at forming a government after elections is the most politically significant interaction, because that choice can determine the direction of national policy for years.
Beyond those formal touchpoints, the prime minister provides the president with regular briefings on state affairs and significant security developments. These meetings keep a channel open between the symbolic head of state and the political leadership, even though the president has no authority to direct policy. The prime minister governs, and the president represents.