Moshe Katsav, President of Israel

Moshe Katsav has been president of Israel since 2000, when he defeated Shimon Peres in the Knesset vote for the position.

Katsav is the second president of Sephardic origin, and the first president to have been born in an Islamic country.

Katsav was born in Yazd, Iran in 1945 and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1951.  

President Moshe Katsav

Katsav enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces in 1964 and reached the rank of corporal in the Communications Corps. He studied economics and history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Before entering politics, Katsav was a journalist for the "Yedioth Ahronoth" newspaper.

In 1969, at the age of 24, he was elected mayor of Kiryat Malachi, becoming the youngest mayor ever to be elected in Israel.

He was a Knesset member for the Likud party from 1977 until he became president.

In the Likud-Labor national unity government of 1984-1988, Katsav served as Minister of Labor and Welfare.

From 1988-1992, in the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, he served as Transportation Minister. He also served as deputy prime minister and Minister of Tourism in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Katsav is married with five children.