At the height of the Israeli presidential race two years ago, I met then-MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer at a Tel Aviv coffee shop. He tried to convince me that he was better than one of his rivals, Likud MK Reuven Rivlin, who ended up winning and becoming Israel's 10th president. We talked about Ben-Eliezer's stellar rise in Israel. A young immigrant from Iraq, he climbed up the ladder of an Israeli system that had been exclusively held by native-born Israelis from the Labor party. Rivlin, a member of Likud's second generation, also felt that he was in a minority. Ben-Eliezer became a fighter and a distinguished commander and eventually joined the ruling Labor party, but only after flirting with obscure parties, including Ezer Weizman's Yahad party. Ultimately, he would go on to lead Labor and serve as defense minister. He was a political wheeler and dealer even back when he was a young soldier in an officers' training course. But for all his power plays he also had great compassion and a kind heart. He wanted everyone to receive their fair share and he avoided conflicts, and he made sure to surround himself with activists in key positions. Some balked at the nasty political deals he struck, but they were legitimate moves in the political power plays that form part of a democracy. During our meeting in Tel Aviv, I told him that he might be skirting the law on financial matters. I had no concrete evidence, but there were whispers and rumors. His response was jaw-dropping: He said a good friend of his left him a large estate upon her death. Was he bribed? Did he received illicit funds as did former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson? "Absolutely not," he insisted. I continued to be a Rivlin supporter after our meeting concluded, but he did not give up. On June 6, 2014, he called me to discuss the presidential race once again. Just hours later, he was taken in for questioning by the police. I later texted him and asked him whether he had known about his upcoming questioning while he was talking with me. "No, I didn't know," he said. "People have been trying to take me down for over a year because of the home I bought in Jaffa. I hope everything turns out all right." We all know how things turned out. He was defeated, and Israel was spared another criminal saga at the President's Residence. His health deteriorated and his corruption trial was put on hold. Legally speaking, he died an innocent man. This will help us remember him as the IDF commander and the good person he was. The Talmud tells us that even after a respected sage went astray, it was incumbent upon others to "remember him for his studiousness, and not his deeds."