Skip to main content

Time for Livni to leave Netanyahu's government

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has been calling from every imaginable forum for a reboot of the negotiations, but given the Netanyahu government’s diplomatic stalemate, it is time for her to resign.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Hatenuah party, during their joint statement at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem February 19, 2013. Netanyahu took his first step in forming a new government on Tuesday saying he had signed a coalition deal with Livni, who will handle efforts to renew stalled Middle East diplomacy. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3DZYL
Read in 

“It was last Yom Kippur, five months after I left the Knesset. While spending the fast with my family, I told my children that I was being called to the flag. The Israeli public was heading to elections, and so many people felt like me that the country was in decline, that there was no alternative to the prime minister either individually or ideologically, and that there was no one to represent our positions to the issues most critical to Israel’s future. Then I asked them what they thought. ‘Fight,’ they said. ‘Fight for us.’ Well, I’m here to fight.”

That was how Justice Minister Tzipi Livni began her comeback speech, when she announced the creation of the Hatnua Party on Nov. 27, 2012, about half a year after resigning from politics upon losing the Kadima Party leadership to Knesset member and former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. During her speech, members of the Labor Party were demonstrating outside the hall. They accused Livni of splitting the center-left bloc unnecessarily by creating a new party instead of joining an existing one.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.