The bad blood between Reuven Rivlin and Benjamin Netanyahu pumped throughout the campaign to elect Israel's 10th president. On Wednesday, Netanyahu acknowledged his error and assessed the difficult issues facing him in Likud. His admission that he cast two votes for Rivlin even failed to improve his lot.
Such disputes, however, and especially such heatedly personal ones, are known throughout Israeli history. They reached their utmost intensity in the relationship between Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. But those two still managed to set up a governing coalition, for as Jewish wisdom teaches: "When you want it badly enough, even a broom will fire bullets."
The first meetings between the president-elect and the prime minister on Wednesday morning suggest that the two understand the gravity of their fraught relationship. It would be prudent, appropriate and -- no less important -- worthwhile for them to gear up for the ultimate goal of having to work together. Israeli has historically witnessed mutual disinterest between the presidential and prime ministerial offices over both fundamental and personal matters, yet harmony has still prevailed.
A difficult undertaking awaits Rivlin. Entering the President's Residence would have been much easier after Ezer Weizman or Moshe Katzav rather than international superstar Shimon Peres. Yet Rivlin boasts the right kind of personality, and he has other strong qualities as well. There's no need for him to fit his predecessor's shoes; rather, he should bring a pair of his own. And given that perspective, there's a chance that he and Netanyahu -- despite their bitter history -- will have an easier time connecting over various issues than Peres ever had with Netanyahu. Peres' outlook was clear and his voice reverberated worldwide -- not always to Jerusalem's satisfaction.
At its core, the presidential election's rancorous conflict is not a serious issue facing the pair's work relationship, but just a reflection of an internal, vicious crisis sweeping Likud, Yisrael Beytenu and Shas.
Rivlin knows Israeli society well. He understands the oppressed and the disadvantaged. He is sensitive to minority rights. He is an avid fan of Israel's. He shows room for independent activities, and he is highly independent, himself. But this does not mean that he and the prime minister cannot argue. For example, Rivlin probably would not get mad at Netanyahu over his relations with Washington, but he would ruffle the prime minister's feathers over how the Israeli Air Force labor strike was having a negative impact on national morale. He would not try to dictate to the prime minister how the defense budget should look, but he would press him to end the current budgetary crisis, one way or another.
We must remember that during the presidential elections, the tables had suddenly turned. It did not cause the fracture among political parties, but revealed the rank political situation that already existed. And it was not characterized by the ugliness of the prestate "hunting season," in which the Haganah kept its Irgun rivals in check by turning them in to the British Mandate authorities. It was appropriate to shed light on a certain safe owned by nominee Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, which contained some 2 million shekels in cash. On Wednesday, Baruch Kara on Channel 10 News exposed the secret deal Meir Sheetrit signed with his housekeeper, in which he paid her some 270,000 shekels ($78,000) to keep her lips sealed after she accused him of sexual harassment, and which the losing candidate had refused to disclose.
By the time the election for Israel's 11th president rolls around in 2021, there won't be a candidate left believing he could reach the ballot without fully disclosing his financial history to the public, including furtively inked deals such as Sheetrit's. And that is for the good.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו