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Chapter Twenty-Four

I had only a general idea of what I would do next. “Something in business” describes it best. But I sought the advice of a friend who, rather than leaving politics, had just entered it. Colin Powell was now the second President Bush’s Secretary of State. “Why don’t you go on the lecture circuit?” he said. The short answer was that it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d be any good at it. But it proved energizing and interesting both for me and, it seemed, the audiences I spoke to. It was also lucrative. I would deliver four lectures over the span of a week and end up making twice what, until that point in my life, I had earned during a full year. I was also invited onto a number of company boards. I turned down some, in order to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. But I did get involved in an area where I believed my range of experiences might be relevant: investment decisions, and venture capital.

The result was a dramatic change in lifestyle. Nava and I got to spend more time with our daughters. We vacationed overseas for the first time. We also decided to build a new home, and the place that we chose gave me my first experience of how far I was from being a “private citizen” in the eyes of the Israeli public. When it became known we were planning to move to Kfar Shmaryahu near Tel Aviv, one of the wealthiest places in Israel, all hell broke loose. How could you, I was asked. I couldn’t resist joking that I just wanted to be close to our voters. Likud supporters were about as rare in Kfar Shmaryahu as panhandlers. Along with Mishmar Hasharon, it was the only place where I’d polled over 80 percent even in my loss to Sharon.

Israel had changed dramatically from the kibbutz-centered pioneer society of my youth. Greater Tel Aviv, in particular, was thriving economically, and the rising crop of millionaires, whether from traditional business or in the bourgeoning technology sector, included its fair share of former kibbutznikim. Still, socially and culturally, a puritanical streak remained, a sense that there was something not quite right about people raised on a socialist ideal becoming personally well off. I accepted this. I recognized that I was not just a former kibbutznik. I had been head of the Labor Party. And Prime Minister. Still, I did feel much of the personal criticism was unfair. I had devoted more than four decades of my life to serving my country. I’d behaved with scrupulous honesty while in office, and was avoiding

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