President Yitzhak Navon and his wife, Ophira, moved out of the Presidential residence here today to a rented apartment on the eve of handing over the Presidential reins to Chaim Herzog. The official inauguration ceremony will take place in the Knesset tomorrow.
The Herzogs themselves will not actually move in at once. They will take hotel accomodation in the capital while some redecoration work is done in the living quarters of the Presidential residence.
Monday night, Premier Menachem Begin hosted a dinner for the members of the Cabinet and the Navons to mark the end of the Presidential term. The Premier presented the President with a wood-covered edition of the book, “Great is Peace,” an anthology of Talmudic writings on peace compiled in connection with the Israel-Egypt peace treaty.
Last night, the Navons themselves gave a dinner — for the staff of the Presidential residence.
One of the President’s first official meetings will be with the Ambassador of Ireland, Sean Ronan. Ronan is a non-resident Ambassador, stationed in Athens. He has come especially to attend Herzog’s inauguration and will meet with him privately Friday. In Ireland, Herzog’s birthplace, there is much public and media interest in the new Israeli president.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
