| --- |
| title: "House Oversight: Estate Documents (Nov 12) (HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_011767)" |
| source: "House Oversight: Estate Documents (Nov 12)" |
| sourceUrl: "https://www.justice.gov/epstein" |
| date: "2026-01-01" |
| category: "House Oversight" |
| eftaNumber: "HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_011767" |
| ocrPages: 1 |
| ocrChars: 2790 |
| ocrElapsed: 0.0 |
| parseTier: "external-legacy" |
| engine: "engine undisclosed (ep-nov-12.greg.technology mirror)" |
| externalSource: "greg-ep-nov-12" |
| externalLicense: "not granted" |
| externalCredit: "ep-nov-12.greg.technology" |
| externalUrl: "https://ep-nov-12.greg.technology" |
| --- |
| |
| / BARAK / 10 |
| 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 73"*-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 |
| 296 |
| HOUSE |
| _OVERSIGHT_011767 |
| |
