President tells Ynet he is not deterred by opponents, but political assassinations are now a risk due to the current violent discourse in Israeli society, while laying out his vision for peace and effective governance.
By Attila Somfalvi, Moran Azulay, YNET NEWS
A year has passed since Reuven Rivlin entered the president’s residence in Jerusalem, and the difficult public atmosphere which escorted his ascension to the role during Operation Protective Edge has been superseded by an even more tumultuous public atmosphere due to the recent hate crimes.
“We are in the middle of a great fracture,” the president warned in a special interview with Ynet.
When asked whether the violent and racist discourse could lead to another political assassination, he answered, “Everything’s possible. Today there are those who hallucinate that a democratic and Jewish state is only democratic for the Jews.”
Rivlin has been travelling all over Israel recently, trying to protect his view of Israeli democracy. His recent speeches condemning the radical right wing and Jewish terror after the murder of the Palestinian infant Ali Dawabshe, have led to incitement and all out rage campaigns against him on social media networks, which then led to a police investigation.
“Terror is terror is terror” the president says, “and it doesn’t matter what nationality that terror belongs to. There is a difficulty in combating the type of terror that is perpetrated by groups of radical Jews. Its terror from within and it is difficult to bring these perpetrators to justice; we need to create tools in order to combat this style of terrorism.”
Even the sharpest of tools should be available for use, according to Rivlin. “Those who seek to advance the death penalty for terrorists need to remember that it will be enacted against Jews as well.
“They don’t intimidate me,” the president promises. When asked about claims made by his detractors – that the office of president has made him more of a “leftist”- Rivlin laughs. “I haven’t changed,” the president said. “The right wing has blamed me for being too liberal in the past as well. Those who are surprised are the left wing.”
Rivlin has listened carefully to recent attacks leveled against the justices of the Supreme Court, and had a hard time accepting them. According to him, “There is no, and cannot be any situation in which we don’t respect the law and the judiciary. It is unacceptable to attack the courts; criticism is allowed, but attacks are not. It shakes the basis of our democracy.”
Rivlin also presented his vision for the solution of the conflict with the Palestinians: An Israeli-Palestinian confederation without borders. “I don’t see any possibility of peace, if there won’t be open borders between us and our neighbors,” he said.
Ynet’s interview with the president took place before the vehicular terrorist attack on route 60 on Thursday, in which two soldiers were seriously injured and a third was lightly wounded. After the attack Rivlin posted a message in which he stated that he is, “Proud of our soldiers who reacted immediately and neutralized the terrorist. We do not have nor will we have any tolerance for terror.
“I wish to strengthen the hand of the Prime Minister and the heads of the security agencies in the unrelenting battle for our right to maintain normal daily life in every place in Israel. I wish and pray with the people of Israel for the safety and recovery of the injured,” the president continued.
On his relations with Benjamin Netanyahu, he said, “He is the prime minister and I am the president. We both grew up in very official homes. He was once my friend. I never hold a grudge.”
The president is also convinced that the prime minister must expand the current government, as he believes it is impossible to pass important reforms with the support of 61 mks alone. “We need a broad government which will make decisions, but not a national unity government, because we are divided from within.”
Rivlin also spoke to the recent breakdown in relations between Netanyahu and US President Barak Obama. “I think they have very similar personalities and they are able to frustrate each other,” Rivlin said, “Its not good that the frustration will come at a cost to US-Israeli relations.”
Felix Quigley Said:
I don’t get the joke ????
But sadly it is not just Rivlin. There is the actual arrests of Young Jews like Meir Ettinger, the grandson of Meir Kahane, and I have not been able to find any opposition to this arrest from leading figures like Caroline Glick, despite having far more resources at her disposal than I have. So it is not accidental (her silence)
http://trotsky.us/2015/08/06/mrs-ayelet-shaked-is-supporting-the-jailing-of-jews/
Under a picture of the young Meir Ettinger I wrote the following: “An absolute outrage being carried out by the present Netanyahu Government witht he arrest above of the Young Jewish patriot and grandson of the Jewish slain patriot Meir Kahane in which Mrs Shaked is up to her eyeballs
What an outrage! What an absolute outrage that this happens in the supposedly Jewish state of Israel. That the grandson of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, outstanding patriot of the Jewish state, murdered by a Jihadist, should be so treated.”
Martin Sherman has not mentioned the arrest of Meir Ettinger who is the grandsaon of Meir David Kahane. Nor has Caroline Glick in her many writings and stage appearances, as is the case in so many forums. Funny that!
A president who uses his authority to accuse and incite just as the blood libelers of jews did throughout the ages. Did the Jews come to Israel in order to be abused, harassed, demonized and incarcerated without trial by other Jews. rivlin incites and demonizes and then seeks respect where none is due.
Rubbish! Price tag vandalism, resistance to eviction,protests agains muslim and GOI abuse.. these are NOT terrorism…. there are only two criminal acts by jews that can be considered heinous… the burning in the car and the stabbing at the parade. For two criminals acts of deranged indivuals rivlin wants the power to incarcerate at will?
Rivlins fraudlent accusations and incitements is the cause of the attck on the soldiers, but he takes no responsibility for HIS incitement to terror.
How can anyone of intelligence be expected to respect the law and those enforcing it if they lie and misrepresent threats and falsely accuse innocent groups AND seek to incarcerate those with ABSOLUTELY NOT ONE CREDIBLE SHRED OF EVIDENCE!!!!! Rivlin is a ludicrous and shameful individual seeking respect when he and others seek to incarcerate individuals known for nothing more than dissent, protest and teenage vandalism. In a whole year there is one crime of violent arson, one crime of vandalistic arson, and a stabbing from a lunatic. Attempting to equate these individual rare crimes with the organized, daily, funded terror of the arabs is despicable. Attempting to equate protest and resistance to eviction with terror of molotov throwing arabs is despicable. Attempting to blame jewish settlers for the Duma arson WITH NOT ONE SHRED OF CREDIBLE EVIDENCE and a long history of arab false claims and crimes, is deeply and truly despicable… and Rivlin is personally guilty of these deeply despicable lynch mob behaviors.
It is rivlin who shows disrespect of law and encourages the breaking of laws by those in authority as a cover for their incompetence in dealing professionally with a couple of not unusual crimes when dealing with arabs. If we discovered it was arabs who did the crime no one would be surprised, no one would be shocked, no one would treat it any more than a single individual criminal act. Rivlin has failed as a leader but not as a leftist lynch mob bandwagonist just like the liar and inciter Herzog. It is Herzog who is a danger who blames a group without evidence, it is the lies of Herzog and the Israeli left which are responsible for the current global anti semitism. It is Herzog and the left whose lies and libels murdered the jewish children in france. It is Herzog and the left who should be incarcerated in order to save Jewish lives.
Rivlin disgusts me and he should resign in shame for pointing fingers without evidence and jumping on a lynch mob bandwagon. Those who should be incarcerated are those who incite a lynch mob and those who seek to incarcerate the innocent without evidence using a single unsolved crime with no credible evidence as a basis to seek the blood of their political opposition. A gov headed by a failed and scandalous president who falls apart and cracks up at the first sign of being required to behave as a responsible leader. Who instead of urging calm, as any normal person would do, instead of urging the population NOT to form a lynch mob and therefore circumvent law and justice…. here we have a president who immediately joins and encourages a lynch mob. There can be NO respect for those who instead of fulfilling their duties of investigation used that precious time to legislate laws to incarcerate and demonize opposition and dissent. There is NO Jewish terror network, there are vandals, dissenters, protesters resisters but NO TERROR NETWORK, there are a couple of criminals…..it is an abject lie and those spreading it have dark and ulterior motives. They are the dangerous ones who should be incarcerated.
this rivlin has no competent qualities of leadership, he is a crowd follower with a lynch mob mentality. he must have been promoted by “peter principle” where the incompetent rise to the top.
President Rivlin has been a huge disappointment as President.
In many ways, he has revealed himself to be to the left of Shimon Peres!
That’s no small accomplishment for the former Knesset Speaker who took office over a year ago.