Tomorrow (Wednesday), United Torah Judaism members of Knesset will meet with presidential candidate MK Ruben Rivlin. The meeting is being held as part of a series of meetings that Rivlin is holding with the factions in the Knesset, to receive their support for his candidacy.
It is not difficult to guess what the conversation will be about, although we will, naturally, only be able to report on its true content after it has taken place. It is possible to assume that Rivlin will remind the members of the fact that he was received with respect by the Rabbi Shteinman. This was at a time when the Knesset, back in the previous term, was trying to promote the Tal Law, and Rivlin came to hear his opinion. Since then, many MKs and ministers have tried to receive him on the same subject, but were refused (Harel Locker, MK Moshe Feiglin, and others).
The Knesset members' deliberation is not simple, and as it currently appears, it ranges between supporting Fuad Ben-Eliezer and Rivlin. As for Silvan Shalom, it is still unclear whether he will run.
On the one hand, there are those in Fuad's office who have greatly assisted the Haredi MKs while he was a minister in Israeli governments. On the other hand, it is difficult to ignore the fact that Rivlin greatly respects religion and tradition, and over the years he has also assisted the Haredi parties, mainly through his office manager Rivka Ravitz.
A decision on the matter will be made, as is customary, by Torah scholars, but if we can speculate and estimate, it is Knesset members Uri Maklev and Yaakov who will support Rivlin. It is not clear about MK Moshe Gafni. At the same time, the Haredi Knesset members are resentful of Rivlin's vote in favor of the conscription law. Rivlin voted this way because he feared retaliation from Yesh Atid. Ultimately, it appears that Lapid will not support him, and it is possible that due to his vote he will lose Haredi support. If he had known this earlier, he might have acted differently.
About two years ago, Rivlin, in his capacity as Speaker of the Knesset, was a guest at the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly held there. Representatives from 25 countries participated in the gathering, along with the head of the Moroccan parliament and the president of the assembly. An interesting incident occurred when on Shabbat night, the Israeli entourage, headed by Reuven Rivlin, made its way, a distance of hours' walk, if only to avoid desecrating the Sabbath. There is no doubt that Ravitz's presence greatly influenced the decision not to desecrate the Sabbath, even though this was an entourage that did not consist of ultra-Orthodox people, except for her. Still, if we compare Rivlin's behavior to the behavior of other senior government officials, it is difficult not to appreciate him.
As far as Agudat Israel's Knesset members are concerned, their vote is unclear. On the one hand, MK Yaakov Litzman signed for him. On the other hand, he made it clear that he signed before consulting the Rebbe. Regarding MK Meir Porush, there is a suspicion in Rivlin's office that he did not vote for him in the previous presidential elections. Some in Porush's office see Rivlin's lack of support for Porush's candidacy for mayor of Jerusalem in the previous term as an act of retaliation. On the other hand, Porush, in closed conversations, almost swore that he voted for Rivlin. Since it was a secret vote, who knows.
""My wife doesn't appoint people""
In the background, the elections are in question, in light of the prime minister's initiative to postpone them by six months. On Sunday, he will try to pass a resolution in the government, but to do so he needs the support of the five top coalition leaders. So far, it is unclear whether they will support the initiative. As you may recall, the black cat crossed paths between the two - Netanyahu and Rivlin - already in the previous term, against the backdrop of governance laws, primarily the Mofaz Law. Later, the two met for a reconciliation meeting, and it seemed that their relations were on a healthy path. But then the budget proposal arrived, and Rivlin worked vigorously to prevent the Arrangements Law, provoking Netanyahu's wrath.
But it seems that the bombshell came in the form of a remark Rivlin made during an internal discussion in the coalition leadership. "My wife doesn't appoint people," he said, 'stinging' the prime minister, whose wife, Sara, supposedly 'helps' him appoint people. Netanyahu's people were furious, and some of them even said that this was a statement befitting a "taxi driver.".
In response, even then, rumors came from Netanyahu's office that he intended to promote a bill that would prevent Rivlin from running for president.
During one of Netanyahu's speeches in the Knesset, in those days, Rivlin repeatedly tried to excuse the Knesset members who were disrupting the proper course of the speech. Each time he excused them, he added an explanation as to why and how he was doing it. At one point, Netanyahu remarked to him that he did not understand why he was supposed to explain so much. Rivlin, for his part, did not remain unmoved, and told Netanyahu that he would be very happy to consult with him on matters of Knesset management...
Some would say that it is the Prime Minister's wife who is pushing him to postpone the presidential elections. Is this another plot, as the media likes to do over and over again, or is this time she really the one driving the process?
Either way, from the perspective of the candidates, the elections will be held on time and they are being held with all vigor.
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