Herzog, Rivlin meet to begin presidential transition
President Reuven Rivlin who was quick to congratulate President-elect Isaac Herzog last week, was delighted to welcome him on Monday on a tour of his soon-to-be new abode.
By GREER FAY CASHMANPRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Isaac Herzog, a man with much political experience.(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)
In stark contrast to the political reluctance, cajoling, demonstrations and incitement surrounding the expected change of government between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yamina head Naftali Bennett, the transition at statesman level is going very smoothly.President Reuven Rivlin, who was quick to congratulate President-elect Isaac Herzog as soon as the results of the presidential election were known last week, was delighted to welcome him on Monday on a tour of his soon-to-be, old-new abode.Herzog spent a lot of time in his younger years at the President’s Residence during the 10-year period in which his father, Chaim Herzog, served as president.After his father died, president Ezer Weizman made the President’s Residence available to the Herzog family for the shiva mourning period and to receive the hundreds of condolence messages and visitors, which would have been too difficult for Aura Herzog and her children in their private homes.Herzog, in his various capacities, has also been back to the President’s Residence many times to be greeted by a series of his father’s successors.Now, he is one himself.“Feel at home,” Rivlin quipped as he welcomed Herzog in a warm embrace, adding that there are not many people who can say that the President’s Residence is their home.After posing, suitably masked, for photos in the small reception room in which Rivlin usually has tête-à-tête conversations, the two men went out to the arbor, where they could remove their masks.Sans masks in the outdoors, they enjoyed a fruitful discussion on issues that occupy the attention of the president, including healing rifts in Israel, escalating antisemitism in the world and defending Israel against allegations of war crimes and apartheid.In 1975, Chaim Herzog, as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, famously tore up the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism. In 1936, his own father, Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, as Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine, tore up the British Mandate White Paper that restricted Jewish emigration.President-elect Herzog, in the face of mounting allegations against Israel, may find himself in the position of emulating both his father and his grandfather.As chairman of the Jewish Agency, Herzog was acutely aware of all the issues that he discussed with Rivlin and had already acted on most of them, so slipping into the role of president should be like a hand slipping into a glove.There are some things, however, that will be new to him. Rivlin had told him in his congratulatory message that being president would be like nothing he had ever done before.The two also discussed the transition period, which will be overseen by Eyal Shviki, who is currently chief of staff at the Jewish Agency and who has worked with Herzog for a long time.Shviki, like his boss, will be ensconced at the President’s Residence and over the next few weeks will work in close coordination with President’s Residence Director-General Harel Tubi.The changing of the guard will take place on July 9.
