President of Israel who is most likely to command a majority in the Knesset. The president awards the Israel Prize on Yom Ha'atzmaut and the Wolf Prize. The president also serves as the main speaker at the opening ceremonies of the half-yearly Knesset conference, as well as at the annual official ceremonies for Yom Hazikaron and Yom HaShoah. Most Israeli presidents were involved in national politics or Zionist activities before taking office. Some were also distinguished in other fields: for example, Chaim Weizmann was a leading research chemist who founded the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot; Zalman Shazar was an author, poet,
Faisal I of Iraq following year. On 4 January 1919, Emir Faisal and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, President of the Zionist Organization, signed the Faisal–Weizmann Agreement for Arab-Jewish Cooperation, in which Faisal conditionally accepted the Balfour Declaration, a personal declaration by British politician, Lord Balfour, promising British support to the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Once Arab states were granted autonomy from the European powers, years after the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, and these new Arab nations were recognized by the Europeans and the U.N., Weizmann argued that since the fulfillment was kept eventually, the agreement for a Jewish homeland in Palestine still held. In