When he ran for Israel’s top job in 2015, Isaac Herzog pitched himself as a different kind of candidate from his opponent, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He was derided as reedy in both stature and voice, but tried to spin those things as advantages: He campaigned as a “thoughtful and responsible leader” focused more on quietly building consensus than on being the loudest guy in the room.

Israelis didn’t go for it. Despite polls consistently showing a slight advantage for Herzog’s Zionist Union party, Netanyahu decisively won the election, sending Herzog back to the opposition and, eventually, out of the Knesset.

Running for president six years later, he tried again, this time campaigning to win the votes of 61 Knesset members — and succeeded with flying colors. In the 2021 presidential race, Herzog won 87 out of 120 possible votes, more than in any contested presidential election in Israeli history.

In the five years since, some of the country’s most tumultuous ever, the unassuming, pareve Herzog has struggled to make his mark as other presidents have. Like his predecessor, Reuven Rivlin, he attempted to navigate the widening gyre of Israel’s polarized society. Like former president Shimon Peres, he tried his hand at regional diplomacy. But he has yet to leave an indelible legacy.

In November, Herzog had history thrust upon him when Netanyahu formally requested a pardon in his long-running corruption trial — something only the president has the power to grant. On Sunday, Herzog gave his answer: Not a yes or a no, but a pitch to negotiate a plea deal that he will mediate.

It’s an unorthodox proposal and, for Herzog personally, an audacious one. The ensuing negotiations, if they happen, won’t only determine whether an amicable resolution can be found to one of the most charged issues dividing Israeli society.

They will also act as the ultimate test of Herzog’s entire approach to politics, a gamble that quiet discussions aimed at reaching consensus, rather than bellicose bombast, can succeed in resolving one of the country’s thorniest conflicts.

The stakes are high: If Herzog succeeds in forging a deal that both sides consider acceptable, he may innovate a new way of addressing pardon requests, and be remembered as the president who helped mend what seemed an intractable rift.

But if he fails, and there are a few reasons to think he might, the........

© The Times of Israel