A text message sent March 26 to hundreds of thousands of cellphones claimed that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin insinuated that he would give the task of forming a new government to the head of the largest party. The information spread quickly, leaving the president no choice but to clarify his position and claim that comments he made to high school students were being politicized. It turns out that while Rivlin was visiting a civics class in Beit Shemesh, he was asked what would happen if none of the candidates had a large enough majority to form a government. He answered that he would have to assess the situation and then might give the task of forming a government to the head of the largest party.
The immediate suspect behind the dissemination of these messages was the Blue and White party. It has the most obvious interest in getting the message out that if it has more seats than the Likud Party, Rivlin, who is known to dislike the prime minister, would be happy to ask head of the Blue and White party Benny Gantz to form a new government. It is also a key message in the Blue and White party’s strategy.
