American Israeli High-Tech Pioneer Will Vie for Presidency

Yosef Abramowitz, an American immigrant to Israel and well-known environmentalist, will vie for the position of president of Israel. Abramowitz, whose moniker is Captain Sunshine for building solar energy fields in Israel and abroad, is president and CEO of Energiya Global Capital as well as co-founder of the Arava Power Company at Kibbutz Ketura.

Abramowitz, 56, immigrated to Israel with his wife and five children from Massachusetts in 2006. He is married to Rabbi Susan Silverman, an activist for religious pluralism in Israel, who is the sister of popular American comedian Sarah Silverman.

Abramowitz met with a dozen lawmakers before announcing that he would actively campaign for the position, The Jerusalem Post first reported. The president of Israel is chosen for one seven-year term by the Knesset lawmakers who vote in a secret ballot. The winner must receive an absolute majority of the votes. There have been 10 elected presidents since Israel’s founding in 1948. Current Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s term expires in June. Lawmakers must convene in May to hold the ballot.

Another native English-speaking Israeli, former Likud lawmaker Yehudah Glick, reportedly will also seek the presidency. Glick, 55, an activist for the rights of Jews to worship on the Temple Mount, survived an assassination attempt by a Palestinian gunman in 2014. He moved to Israel with his parents and siblings from the United States in 1974.