Reuven ‘Ruvi’ Rivlin is an unlikely hero. He is a lifelong member of Israel’s Likud party, and on the right of that rightwing bloc. He is an advocate of Greater Israel, swallowing up the occupied territories that ought to form an independent Palestinian state. And yet ever since his elevation to Israel’s largely ceremonial presidency in June he has acted as something like his country’s conscience – both castigating what he sees as a national slide into racism and intolerance, and standing up for the civil rights of Palestinians.
In November the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, backed a “Jewish state” bill that would enshrine discrimination against Israel’s 1.7 million Arab citizens, denying them the national rights accorded to Jews. Liberals and leftists denounced it, of course, but the most potent attack came from the presidential mansion. Earlier Rivlin condemned surging bigotry as a “sickness” that needed to be treated.
In a video for the Jewish New Year, the 75-year-old president sat alongside an 11-year-old Palestinian boy who had been the victim of bullying. The two held up a series of cards, bearing slogans calling for mutual respect and dignity. One said: “We are exactly the same.” Rivlin’s office may be ceremonial; his stand is anything but.
