As someone who has followed the wonderful work Shimon Peres has done to strengthen Israel's security over the decades and knows that he made excellent decisions on controversial issues, I do not understand how politicians with partisan and personal interests are encouraging Peres to return to the political arena and run for prime minister as the head of the opposition camp. These politicians should be ashamed. They would send Peres back into the partisan divide at the end of a life worthy of honor, so that they can benefit in the upcoming election. If centrist politicians are trying to cheer Peres up, good for them. But if they are striving to turn Peres into their flak jacket, they must be stopped. Moreover, Peres would not be able to deliver the votes they are seeking. Every voter would know full well that casting a ballot for Peres would in reality be a vote for the second person on his party list. In the political lexicon, there is no such thing as an 89-year-old candidate for prime minister. I don't want to see the disgrace of Peres running for prime minister. But if it happens, the initiators of the move would come to realize that they were responsible for a major fiasco. By the election in January, support for the Center would be worn thin. The Peres situation is a bizarre joke, but it is not the only one as the election draws closer. Is former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert really waiting for a favorable word from re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama? Does Olmert think Obama will help him against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? I do not rule out the possibility that Obama may want to weaken Netanyahu, who was perceived as supporting Obama's Republican rival Mitt Romney in the recent U.S. presidential election. But the U.S., which is indeed skilled at interfering in the elections of friendly countries, will not throw its support behind Olmert, a convicted criminal. The Americans are experts at subtle subversion. Two decades ago, Silvan Shalom, along with Yitzhak Moda'i, successfully climbed the political ladder with the idea of U.S. loan guarantees for Israel's absorption of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The Republican administration of George H. W. Bush agreed to the concept, but left no doubt that the loan guarantees would only be granted to a government led by Labor leader Yitzhak Rabin, and not the Likud government led by then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Such machinations have occurred several times. If Obama wants to do something similar on an issue important to Israel, he will do so by applying gentle pain, rather than using political brutality. Surprisingly, the Likud party does not oppose Olmert returning to the political scene. I know this for a fact. This is not only because Likud would be able to smash him over his record of corruption, but also that it would be easier to spar with Olmert over the peace process with the Palestinians than it would be to contend with Labor Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich on socioeconomic issues. The campaign leading up to the Jan. 2013 Knesset election has so far been characterized by a series of anomalies Peres, Olmert and the withdrawal of Uri Sagi from the Labor primary over sexual harassment allegations from 39 years ago by an unknown complainant. The campaign has come to resemble a circus, to which the Sagi story has added some color.
