The Man Who Can't Say Yes

Why did Yitzhak Shamir appoint David Levy as Israel's Foreign Minister? Because Levy can't say yes to Secretary of State James Baker's peace plan -- he does not speak English. That gag is a sample of many Israelis' reaction to Levy. His fastidious appearance and emotional style of speaking have spawned so many jokes that at least one collection has been published. "One of his problems is that people don't take him seriously," says former Cabinet Secretary Aryeh Naor.

From now on, they had better. Levy, 52, an immigrant from Morocco and former construction worker who has never earned a college degree, has become the strongest leader of Israel's increasingly numerous and powerful Sephardic (Oriental) Jews. Many Israelis, in fact, suggest that the derision he has encountered reflects resentment of the Sephardim by long-dominant Ashkenazi Jews. He has proved a shrewd infighter in domestic posts, and though he is the first Israeli Foreign Minister who is unable to speak English, he is fluent in Arabic and French.

A onetime Likud moderate who criticized the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Levy switched to a hard line when Shamir proposed a peace plan last year, and as Housing Minister he secretly subsidized the Jewish settlement in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem's Old City last April. Levy has never hidden his desire to become Prime Minister, though polls rank him near the bottom of lists of ; leading candidates. His new job could change that perception -- or cement it.