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touched as well by the fact that he had decided to “pass the torch” to me, someone
more in the mold, and closer to, Rabin. But I remained cautious, too. When I got
back home, Nava, knowing where I’d been, was still awake. I told her everything
that Shimon had said. I told her how extraordinary it felt to have the prospect, at
least, of leading Labor in opposition to Bibi, without the need to confront, or to
inflict personal hurt, on Shimon. But I added: “It seems a bit too good to be true.”

It was. The next morning, I joined other ministers and party officials with Peres
in his office. It was as if our conversation a few hours before had never happened.
Shimon set out his strategy for Labor going forward. And the first thing he said
was that the party needed to push back any leadership election beyond the
mandated 14 months. “It’s too early,” he said. He said we needed to focus on two
other strategic imperatives: to reconstruct the party, and consider the issue of
joining a possible “unity” government with Bibi.

Though Bibi went on to form his government without us, in alliance with a
number of smaller Orthodox parties, the idea of a Labor leadership change seemed
off the agenda, at least for now. In early August, I was standing next to Giora Einy
– the “political operative” Yitzhak had sent to help bring me into his government,
and a friend of Peres as well – when Shimon rose to speak to the dozens of well-
wishers at his 73rd-birthday celebration in Tel Aviv. He was at his old, self-
confident best. With just a few thousand extra votes, we would have won the
election, he said. He was sure Bibi’s coalition – “a coalition against peace” –
would not survive for long. Giora, smiling, turned to me and said: “It doesn’t
sound like a farewell speech. It seems like he’s ready for the next round. He lost
twice to Begin. He lost once to Shamir. And only once to Bibi. He’s not going to
stop without giving it another go.”

Another of Peres’s old friends, a few weeks later, urged me to press him on the
need to step aside. I’d become closer to the French Jewish businessman Jean
Frydman during the election campaign. Since he had helped organize the fateful
peace rally at which Rabin was shot, he felt – wrongly, but powerfully – a sense of
responsibility for what had happened. He wanted to do everything possible to
ensure that Rabin’s political legacy, and Shimon’s, survived. He invited Nava and
me to visit him for a few days. When he asked about the birthday celebration, I
told him what Peres had said. “He’s making a huge mistake,” Jean told me. “After
every election, he goes through the same process. Always, he’s convinced that next
time he will win.” I said how I dreaded the prospect of being part of an effort to

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