Many people expected Tzipi Livni to become Israel’s first female prime minister since Golda Meir.
After her high-profile stint as foreign minister, the centrist Kadima party she heads won more votes than any other in elections last year. International leaders praised her as a new-style Israeli politician who could finally make peace with the Palestinians.
Yet things aren’t working out that way for Livni, 51. Rather than making history, she is fighting for her political life.
As Israel’s first female opposition leader, Livni is supposed to be leading the campaign to unseat the government, but she’s the one under fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, her right-wing rival from the Likud Party who snatched the top job when Livni was unable to form a government, is trying to lure away Kadima lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Livni’s No. 2 in Kadima, Shaul Mofaz, has launched a blistering campaign to unseat her, saying her leadership is damaging the country and alleging vote-rigging in the primary that installed Livni as party head.
In an interview, Livni scoffed at any dire predictions and dismissed Mofaz’s allegations as a power play. She noted that Kadima remains the largest party in Parliament — by one seat — and continues to score well in polls.
“People in the street come to us and say, ‘Don’t give up. We need this hope,'” she said. “This is major energy for us. I’m not going to advocate for my leadership. It’s not for me to say. Ask the 750,000 people who voted for Kadima and made it the biggest party.”
The ideology of Kadima, which was started in 2005, combining tough talk on security and a willingness to trade land for peace, struck a chord with voters.
More Top Picks Bissell Powerfresh Deluxe
But since two strokes left Kadima founder Ariel Sharon incapacitated, it has faltered. His successor as party leader and prime minister, Ehud Olmert, announced his resignation in 2008 amid fraud allegations.
Some say Kadima might be a victim of its own success. The popularity of the centrist movement helped pull Likud and the Labor Party toward the political middle, raising questions about whether a centrist party is still needed.
But Livni said she has doubts whether Netanyahu’s government is prepared to make the compromises needed to achieve peace with the Palestinians, which she said should be the government’s top priority.
She said she doesn’t want Kadima to be used as “a fig leaf” for a right-wing-dominated coalition that only endorsed a two-state plan under heavy pressure from Washington.
Late last month, Netanyahu met with Livni to invite her to join the government. But Livni and others called the gesture insincere, saying it was intended to weaken the government’s only real competition.
Asked what she would do differently as prime minister, Livni said she would pick up peace negotiations from the point of late 2008, when she led the government team under Olmert. At the time, Olmert reportedly offered a land swap that would allow Israel to keep some of its major West Bank settlements in return for Israeli land in the south. Talks broke down without a resolution.
Livni has been criticized for failing to clearly articulate Kadima’s platform and for not being more critical of the government’s policies, though Netanyahu has reduced the opportunity by embracing many of Kadima’s principles.
Livni’s supporters say the attacks smack of sexism and ignore her personal appeal to voters. She’s a former spy with Israel’s Mossad. Her parents met while working together in the Zionist underground before Israel was founded.
“The ballots that voters cast for Kadima were really ballots for Livni,” said Merav Parsi Zadok, a political and media consultant. “She’s popular and it’s personal.”
Livni said she’s confident she and Kadima will survive the current challenges.
“I’m not naive,” she said. “The public wants to see something else. There is a need to keep the alternative of hope.”
But she added that she would not hesitate to support, or even join, the current government if such a step were needed to end the conflict with the Palestinians.
“I’m in politics in order to end this conflict,” she said. This is the most important thing.”
———-