Yitzhak Navon, who served as the fifth President of the State of Israel from 1978 to 1983, passed away on 7 November at the age of 94. He was laid to rest on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

During his presidency, he strove to act as a bridge between Israel’s ethnic groups, religious and secular, Sephardim and Ashkenazim, left and right, Jews and Arabs.

One of the highlights of his term of office was his state visit to Egypt in 1980 at the invitation of President Anwar Sadat. He impressed his hosts with his eloquent Arabic, breaking the ice and demolishing stereotypes of Israelis and Jews as a “foreign element” to the region.