Prof. Joseph Rivlin, the nominee of the Herut Party, tonight withdrew his candidacy for the presidency of Israel in favor of his life-long friend, President Itzhak Ben Zvi.
In a letter to the Speaker of the Knesset which will elect the chief of state next Monday, Prof. Rivlin requested the removal of his name. He later told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that his move was prompted by a wish to achieve national solidarity behind the President and that he had originally thrown his hat into the ring merely to demonstrate his feeling that the President must be above party.
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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.