Cabinet Fratricide

One is gruff, introverted, monotoned, a career soldier who holds the nation's top political job. The other is suave, eloquent, literate, an instinctive politician in a key military post. Both men belong to the same generation of Israelis who grew up with the Jewish state's struggle for survival--and yet, even though they are members of the same Cabinet, they are locked in a constant, fratricidal battle. In fact, the rivalry between Premier Yitzhak Rabin, 54, and Defense Minister Shimon Peres, 53, has become so intense that practically every issue in Israel's hothouse politics polarizes into a struggle between their competing factions. Israel's national elections are still one year away, but Peres has clearly emerged as the major threat to Rabin's reelection.

The two men have clashed almost continuously since April 1974, when the ruling Labor Party's central committee, by a 298-to-254 vote, chose Rabin over Peres as its candidate to succeed Golda Meir as Premier. The latest flare-up involves Asher Yadlin, whom Rabin recently picked to be governor of the Bank of Israel, the country's No. 2 financial post. A gambling buff (he favors the Las Vegas roulette table) with an eye for pretty women, Yadlin is also a major fund raiser for the Labor Party; since 1973, he has headed Israel's huge Kupat Holim health-insurance program. Yadlin was arrested in mid-October and is now being held by the police under suspicion of corruption and tax fraud. Rabin has withdrawn the Yadlin nomination, naming instead Arnon Gafny, director general of the Finance Ministry, to the bank post.

Psychological Warfare. Peres and his supporters have jumped on the Yadlin scandal as proof of Rabin's poor judgment in making appointments. In the past, Peres and Rabin have openly disagreed over tactics and emphasis in such matters as the amount of military aid that Jerusalem should request from the U.S. (Peres wanted more than Rabin) and the disengagement with Egypt in the Sinai (Peres wanted greater concessions from Egypt in exchange for a pullback of Israeli forces). Following the recent riots in Hebron, in which both Arab civilians and Israeli soldiers were injured, Rabin publicly attacked Peres' Defense Ministry for its administration of the West Bank.

Rabin and Peres are both masters of upmanship. A leader of Israel's elite Palmach commandos in 1948 and a hero of the 1967 war, Rabin seldom loses a chance to one-up his Defense Minister on military matters. During briefings by Peres (who never served in uniform), Rabin has been known to swivel impatiently in his chair, scowl and then ignore his minister by shooting questions directly at uniformed generals present. Complains a Peres aide: "Right from the start, Rabin was out to humiliate Peres in any way he could."

In answer, one of the Premier's aides argues that "Peres wages psychological warfare." The personable, quick-witted Minister of Defense is a much finer speaker than Rabin, handles the press well and thus frequently outshines the dour Premier in public. Peres' supporters, moreover, have tried to malign Rabin by spreading rumors that he cracks under pressure, drinks too much, has crude manners and exercises little leadership. They have even whispered that Rabin waffled before authorizing the commando rescue at Uganda's Entebbe Airport. All this, of course, is proof to Rabin's backers that Peres is malicious and disloyal.

Peres has not said openly that he is in the running for Rabin's job. One reason: the Premier has warned that any Cabinet member, "including the Defense Minister," would have to resign from the government once he became a candidate for Premier. Peres, however, will have to start lining up support fairly soon; the party central committee gathers in the spring to nominate Labor's next standardbearer. By then, Rabin may well find himself on the defensive, blamed not only for Israel's 35% inflation and the mushrooming Yadlin scan dal but also for failing to involve party functionaries in his administration. Ultimately, there is a chance that neither Rabin nor Peres will emerge victorious. Their fratricidal rivalry could split the Labor Party so badly that it will lose popular support at the polls and the backing of some of its coalition partners, thus allowing a non-Labor bloc to rule Israel for the first time in its 28-year history.

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