New kid in town
Amir Peretz is being put to the test by Israel's elder statesmen
In May 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy met with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Kennedy, young and inexperienced, had become president just four months earlier, while Khrushchev was at the height of his power.
Crisis. Kennedy was forced to bring the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust in order to prove to Khrushchev that he was made of the right stuff.
The meeting, which took place in Vienna, was ripe for disaster: Khrushchev viewed Kennedy's politeness as weakness, and concluded that Kennedy wouldn't respond if he put missiles in Cuba.
Thus was born the Cuban Missile
Likud Responds
Ronny Sofer
Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon tells Ynet prime minister not worried about newly-elected Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz's threat to bring down the government by supporting no-confidence vote, if Sharon does not meet with him beforehand
Today, Amir Peretz is going through the same sort of initiation that Kennedy did then. Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres, two seasoned foxes, are checking him out to see what he's made of.
Sharon was supposed to meet with Peretz yesterday, ostensibly to discuss, maybe even to decide, setting a date for Knesset elections.
But over the weekend, Sharon changed his mind and pushed off the meeting to Thursday, "in order to consult his advisors," said government secretary Yisrael Maimon.
Until that moment, I considered Maimon a very successful government secretary, someone unafraid to speak his mind, never pretended to be innocent, didn't seek to manipulate.
But to say that it took Sharon five days to "consult", at a time when he didn't even have his cronies with him, is really over the top. To ask the head of the Labor Party to make due with a phone call with the government secretary is a crude attempt to show Peretz his lowly place on the pecking order.
Peretz responded by threatening to bring down the government before the end of the week. It's not clear whether this threat has any teeth or not, but it was intended to show Sharon that his ability to control the daily goings-on of his government is limited.
Same thing with Shimon Peres. Last Friday, following Peretz's victory, Peres tried to force the new party chair into a three-way meeting, together with Dalia Itzik. Peretz threatened to cancel the meeting, Peres blinked first, and Itzik was left out in the cold.
These games, as much as they may sound childish, teach the political establishment a lot about the new thug in town. Politicians all over the hold suckers in deep contempt, and scorn the merciful. Peretz is trying very hard to prove he is neither.
Peretz seems to have learned a thing or two from his predecessors: When Ehud Barak was party chairman, he abused Shimon Peres. Peretz invited him warmly, perhaps too warmly, to join forces; when Amram Mitzna was Labor chief he couldn't stand to be around party higher-ups and resigned.
Peretz has treated them with a strong hand from the minute he was elected. At this stage, they have no choice but to fall in line: Soon, they will stand for re-election, and they really want, both together and individually, to get back to the Knesset.
When the power games end, Amir Peretz will face a truly tough problem: how to translate his platform – withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a far-reaching economic and social program, into the needs of the party that pretends to want to return to power.
The Likud will present him as a radical leftist, inexperienced in diplomacy or security matters, and as a union leader and an economic Bolshevik.
Praying for Bibi
Peretz had better start praying that Benjamin Netanyahu can beat Ariel Sharon in the Likud Party elections in March. When Netanyahu calls him a radical leftist, Peretz can easily call him a right-wing extremist. He'll have a tougher time responding to Sharon.
He'd also better pray that terrorism doesn't return, at lest not in the months leading up to the election. Renewed attacks will erase the important social issues he represents from the daily agenda, and will drive public opinion rightward, right back to Sharon.
So should Sharon be happy about Peretz's candidacy? Absolutely not. Against Peres, he knew he was on very strong ground: in any event, whether he runs as head of the Likud or head of a new party, he knew a Peres-led Labor Party would join his government after the elections.
In that situation, Sharon would in affect have run as the head of two party slates: His own party, and that of Shimon Peres.
But with Peretz, it s a different story. At least at the moment, he's feeling very oppositional.
The attempts to humiliate Peretz are a legitimate part of the political game. The ugly side of it is arrogance.
Who does he think he is, this guy from Sderot? He thinks he's going to talk to me – ME! Arik, King of Israel! – as an equal?
No one here was born with a crown on his head. One comes from Kfar Malal, one from Sderot. One has roots in Europe, the other in Morocco.
It's comforting to know that in the case of Sharon, none of this stems from racism. He hates everybody equally.
Nahum Barnea is a columnist for Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
