Tzipi Livni
(1958 - )
Tzipora (Tzipi) Livni (born July 5, 1958) is a senior Israeli politician currently serving as Foreign Affairs Minister, with the recently added title of Vice Prime Minister. According to some official sources her new additional title is "Acting Prime Minister", indicating she would lead the government on an "acting" basis if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were unable to fulfill his duties.
Some observers believe Livni has emerged from the recent Knesset elections, and the negotiations for the formation of Israel's 31st Government, as "the second most powerful politician in Israel," after Olmert.
First elected to the Knesset as a member of the Likud party in 1999, she followed then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Olmert into the new Kadima Party in late 2005. At that time she was Minister of Justice, but soon added the position of Foreign Minister following the departure of the remaining Likud ministers from the government in January 2006.
Livni is Israeli's second-ever female foreign minister, the first being Golda Meir several decades prior. Highly-rated by both right and centrist Israelis, Livni received the Abirat Ha-Shilton ("Quality of Governance") award for 2004.
Biography
Livni was born in Tel Aviv. She is the daughter of Eitan Livni, a Polish-born former ETZEL member who was at one time a Likud member of the Knesset. She served as a Lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces and worked for the Mossad for four years during the early 1980s. A graduate of Bar Ilan University's Faculty of Law, she has years of experience as a lawyer, specializing in public and commercial law.
Following her election to the Knesset in 1999, she served as a member of the Likud opposition. With Sharon's accession as Prime Minister in July 2001, Livni was appointed Minister of Regional Cooperation, and thereafter held various positions including Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Minister of Housing and Construction. On October 1, 2005 she was appointed Minister of Justice after several months acting in that position.3
Livni was an avid supporter of Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan and was generally considered to be among the key dovish members of the Likud party. She often mediated between hawkish and dovish elements inside the party, and gained publicity for her successful efforts to have the pullout from the Gaza Strip ratified by the Knesset.
On 12 November 2005, she became the first member of the Israeli right-wing to speak at the official yearly commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Eight days later, Livni joined Sharon in his departure from the Likud and joined his new party, Kadima. She was granted the number three position on Kadima's list of candidates, which effectively guaranteed her election to the Knesset.
As Sharon's medical problems worsened, there was speculation that she might succeed him as head of Kadima if he were unable to continue, although some questioned if she had sufficient experience for the position of Prime Minister. However, Livni quickly expressed her support of Ehud Olmert, both as acting Prime Minister and leader of Kadima.
In January 2006, following Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's decision to resign his position ahead of the 28 March elections, Olmert appointed her Foreign Minister. She continued to also serve as Justice Minister through the March 2006 elections for the 17th Knesset. On May 4, 2006, with the swearing-in of the 31st Government, she ceased serving as Justice Minister. She continues to serve as Foreign Minister, with the additional title of Acting (or Vice) Prime Minister.
Livni became the first Israeli cabinet minister in Israel's history to explicitly differentiate Palestinian guerrilla attacks against Israeli military targets from terrorist attacks against civilians. In an interview on the US Television news show ABC Nightline, recorded on March 28, 2006, Livni stated: "Somebody who is fighting against Israeli soldiers is an enemy and we will fight back, but I believe that this is not under the definition of terrorism, if the target is a soldier."
Livni resides in Tel Aviv. She is married and has two children. Livni is considered to be the most popular politician in Israel, appreciated by most parties.
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