Reuven Rivlin
Reuven Rivlin (Hebrew: ראובן ריבלין, born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli lawyer, politician, member of the Knesset for Likud. A former Speaker of the Knesset, in 2007 he ran in the election for President as the Likud candidate. He withdrew after the first round of voting when it became clear that Kadima MK Shimon Peres had sufficiently broad support to inevitably win in a run-off.
Biography
Born in Jerusalem, he received an LL.B. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and worked as a lawyer.
He was first elected to the 12th Knesset in 1988, and served as Likud chairman from 1988 to 1993. He lost his seat in the 1992 elections, but returned to the Knesset following the 1996 elections. Re-elected in 1999, he was appointed Minister of Communications in March 2001, serving until February 2003, when he was elected Knesset Speaker following the 2003 elections. During his term as speaker, he was criticized for breaking the tradition of political neutrality of the post; he was one of Ariel Sharon's harshest critics regarding the disengagement plan, and had a public confrontation with Aharon Barak, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, concerning the court's authority to declare legislation illegal.
Rivlin was re-elected again in 2006 and 2009.
He is married and has four children.
See also
External links
Reuven Rivlin on the Knesset website
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