Israel’s President-Elect Reuven ‘Ruby’ Rivlin Joins Twitter
by Shiryn Ghermezian
The President-elect of Israel Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin celebrated his electoral success on Monday by joining Twitter.
The Likud Party member narrowly won a Knesset vote to become the 10th president of Israel.
“Hello Twitter! #myfirstTweet,” Rivlin wrote in his first post on the social media website.
The first accounts “followed” by the 74-year-old include that of Commonwealth Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the Israeli Defense Forces, Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Finance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rivlin had over 1,100 Twitter followers at the time of publication.
He took 63 out of 119 votes in the secret ballot in the 120-member Knesset, beating out Ha’tnua Party member Meir Sheetrit with 53 votes. On July 24, Rivlin will replace outgoing President Shimon Peres, who steps down after seven years in the ceremonial role.
In a congratulatory phone call, Peres told Rivlin, “It is a position that brings with it responsibility, you have to consider your every word and every action, but you will do it successfully because you are, to your core, a good person.”