President Reuven Rivlin caused a political storm on Wednesday when he called upon the parties elected to the 24th Knesset to form alliances that are not considered normal.
Rivlin spoke at the President’s Residence after receiving the official results of the March 23 election from the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Judge Uzi Vogelman. The president said the ongoing political crisis had weakened Israeli democracy but would not defeat it.
“We are stronger than [the crisis], and Israeli society is stronger,” he said. “I hope our elected officials will be wise enough to listen to the people of Israel and hear their demand for unconventional alliances, cooperation between sectors and professional and dedicated work for all Israeli citizens.”
The Likud responded to Rivlin in the name of Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) and two other Likud ministers, saying that “the president does not decide the results of the election, and it is forbidden for him to be a political player.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party said the president must give the mandate to form a government to whoever gets the most recommendations, as he and his predecessors have in the past.
The President’s Residence responded that the Likud reaction was disrespectful and should not have been said. The leaders of parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc issued stronger criticism.
“The Likud’s attack on the president is further proof that there are two possibilities: either the continuation of Netanyahu’s rule and a savage attack on state institutions, or joining the bloc of change and replacing the government,” Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said.
New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar backed Lapid, saying: “The Likud’s savage attack on the president days before his decision according to his statutory authority is another stage in Netanyahu’s campaign against all statesmanlike symbols.”
Sa’ar asserted that “Netanyahu is interested in absolute and eternal rule while trampling on all state systems. It is time for him to step aside and allow Israel to return to itself.”
Aware of concerns that his animosity toward Netanyahu would influence his decision, Rivlin emphasized that in the coming days he would give careful thought as to which candidate has the best chance of forming a government that will receive the trust of the Knesset, pass a budget and heal the nation.
Rivlin will consult with the different parties on Monday and, two days later, will announce the identity of the person tasked to form a government.
At the outset of his address, Rivlin, who has consistently lamented the fact that Israel has held four elections in under two years, did so again, saying that his seven-year tenure has not yet concluded, and that this was the fifth time in which he had received the final election results.
While opting not to elaborate on the political crisis in which Israel finds itself, Rivlin, a tireless spokesman for democracy, said: “We must not forget that elections to the Knesset are a prime example of our statehood, the holy of holies of our democracy. This is the clearest way the public can make its voice heard and elect its representatives.”
Rivlin had warm praise for the Central Elections Committee, singling out Vogelman and committee chairman Orly Ades, whom he credited with enabling the voting of citizens in isolation, those who were ill and those who were at risk. In presenting the results, Vogelman said they reflected the will of the people.
Despite the gravity of the political situation, there was an air of festivity at the President’s Residence. In addition to the regular tall vases of flowers, beautiful pale pink, peach, bright yellow and white floral arrangements were placed at the bases of the lecterns from which Rivlin and Vogelman spoke.
Reporters, photographers and TV cameramen who had not seen each other in the space of a year were thrilled to be reunited. This was the first time since COVID-19 had severely reduced in-person gatherings that the President’s Residence was open to the press. In the row of pedestals on which the busts of former presidents are mounted, there was an additional new pedestal on which Rivlin’s bust, which has already been cast, will be mounted soon after he leaves office.
Hadassah Brenner contributed to this report.