The Perils of Rabin

"In Israel, we have 3 million citizens who think they are all Prime Ministers. The difference between them and me is that everyone of them thinks he knows more than I."

That line drew laughs everywhere in the U.S. during Premier Yitzhak Rabin's recent eleven-day visit. Back home, though, it doesn't play. More and more Israelis--particularly the Premier's political rivals--are indeed convinced that they can run the country better than Rabin. A year ago, thanks largely to his tough negotiating stance during Henry Kissinger's first, abortive Sinai shuttle, Rabin's popularity in Israeli polls reached 91%. Last week it was 37%, and even within Rabin's dominant Labor Party there were predictions that he might not last in office to the general elections scheduled for November 1977. As an unhappy Cabinet Minister told TIME Correspondent Marlin Levin, "One more mistake, and Rabin is finished."

Many voters are unhappy with the results of the second Sinai accord; they claim Israel got nothing of substance from Egypt in exchange for surrendering the Abu Rudeis oilfields and the Sinai passes. Last week the Cabinet recoiled when Rabin outlined the gist of a new U.S.-Israeli approach to further Middle East negotiations. To maintain diplomatic momentum, the U.S. has proposed continuing discussions among Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria, toward an "end of the state of war." When Rabin brought the proposal to his Cabinet, he was pinned down in a crossfire. Hawks accused the Premier of being ready to give away too much to the Arabs. Doves chided him for ignoring the crucial Palestinian issue. Even some of Rabin's supporters were annoyed that he did not submit a draft of the proposal to the Cabinet for prior discussion.

All this has further hurt the Labor Party, which has dominated Israel politically since the Jewish state was founded 28 years ago. Two weeks ago, Party Secretary-General Meir Zarmi, a Rabin appointee, suddenly resigned. Zarmi complained that the party is $3.3 million in debt, has had to put workers on half pay and cannot even afford to hold internal elections that are due in the next two months.

The problem is that Rabin is an indifferent administrator with little interest in domestic politics or party affairs. He is introspective, impulsive and has a habit of making decisions, then afterward informing the people concerned. This may work in the army--Rabin served for four years as Israel's Chief of Staff--but not with Cabinet Ministers. Some of them have first heard of Rabin decisions affecting their departments on radio news broadcasts. Time and again he has announced a policy decision and then been forced by angry colleagues to retract or compromise.

On Political Probation. The Premier has been subjected to unfair personal attacks. Israeli commentators have repeated his opponents' charges that Rabin drinks too much and makes backbiting remarks about even close colleagues. Wrote Ha'aretz Columnist Yoel Marcus recently: "Instead of inspiring, he is weak. Instead of uniting ranks, he divides." Gloomed the Jerusalem daily Yediot Aharonot: "A government crisis is looming because the Prime Minister's status has deteriorated."

Before Rabin flew to the U.S., Labor expected to win the next election handily. Now the Premier appears to be on a kind of political probation. Israeli voters are in a hawkish mood these days, even though hawkishness in the past has achieved far less for Israel than moderation and openness to negotiation. Remembering David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir, Israelis seem to be looking for more charisma than Rabin can provide. Meanwhile, he is being pushed by his opposition. Shimon Peres has indicated that if he decides he cannot go along with any government policy, he will bolt the government and run against Rabin, either independently or in the Labor Party. In addition, a covey of former generals, including former Intelligence Chief Aharon Yariv, is threatening to form a third force in Israeli politics--between the Labor government and its conservative opposition. Yariv, who resigned as Rabin's Information Minister last year because he felt underemployed and out of place in a government of bristling personalities, put the matter bluntly: "We might as well have it out at last. We're tearing ourselves apart anyway."

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