Israel’s Top Woman Politician Sees Chance to Topple Netanyahu

By Gwen Ackerman and Jonathan Ferziger  

Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

Israel's Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, whom Netanyahu dismissed as justice... Read More

Tzipi Livni watched Benjamin Netanyahu walk off with her 2009 Israeli election victory. The former foreign minister, peace negotiator and ex-Mossad spy says she doesn’t intend to let that happen again.
Livni has teamed up with Labor Party chief Isaac Herzog in a joint ticket they say gives them a better shot at forming the next government after March 17 elections.
To unseat the longest-serving Israeli premier since David Ben-Gurion, the two have divided the work, with Labor blaming Netanyahu for the government’s failure to reduce living costs and revive economic growth. Livni is touting her foreign policy credentials to end an international push to isolate Israel because of the breakdown in peace talks with the Palestinians. The two also plan to tap into disagreements between the Israeli leader and former partners such as ex-Finance Minister Yair Lapid to form a coalition.
“The common denominator between the leaders of the
other parties is that they worked with Netanyahu and they think he shouldn’t be prime minister anymore,” she said in an interview last week. “There is an opportunity.”
While polls put them ahead of Netanyahu’s Likud party, they also show the premier is better positioned to form a government with his partners. Still, pollsters and political analysts such as Reuven Hazan say their task isn’t impossible.
To win, Livni and Herzog must avoid “expounding a dovish platform,” and shun “talk about all the negatives, how the world hates us,” said Hazan, a political scientist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Campaign Stop

At a campaign stop at Tsur Hadassah, a small community just outside of Jerusalem, Livni, 56, did just that.
“The isolation Netanyahu has brought on us will lead to our being forced into a peace agreement with the Palestinians through sanctions and erode our legitimacy to act,” she told the crowded room.
Fielding questions on peace talks and Palestinian motives, she made it clear that she had differences with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, commonly known as Abu Mazen. “I am not Abu Mazen’s representative in this room,” she said.
Speaking in an interview, Livni criticized Netanyahu for holding indirect talks with Hamas to end the 50-day war in July and August. She also opposed exchanging prisoners with the militant group, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

‘Two States’

“I don’t promise that peace is around the corner,” she said. “But we need to move forward with decisions needed to break the isolation Israel is facing” that will be “in accordance with the vision of two states for two peoples,” she said.
Late last year, seven European parliaments voted to recognize a state of Palestine. Lapid, fired by Netanyahu last month as finance minister, has warned that economic sanctions meant to pressure Israel to evacuate captured territory Palestinians claim for a state may widen.
At an event this month where he presented Likud’s election ticket, Netanyahu scoffed at Livni and Herzog as capitulators who are “too weak” to protect Israel from militants and Iran who would like to see it destroyed. He blames the Palestinians for the collapse of peace talks.
Livni, whom Netanyahu dismissed as justice minister before calling early elections, could have become prime minister six years ago after her Kadima party won the most seats in a parliamentary election. Her failure to form a coalition meant the baton was passed to Netanyahu, who did. This time, she plans to let Herzog, with whom she would divide the premier’s term, handle the coalition talks, she said.

Challenges Ahead

The Herzog-Livni ticket would win 24 seats in the Knesset to 20 seats for Likud, according to a Jan. 15 poll broadcast on Channel 10 that had a 3.3 percent margin of error. Lacking a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, the winner will have to ally with governing partners.
The next government will have to navigate an obstacle course that includes worsening ties with the Palestinian Authority, which is seeking international action against Israel, including possible war crimes charges.
Economic growth slowed in 2014 to 2.6 percent, the worst performance since 2009, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. A surge in house prices outpacing wage growth has also led to wide frustration among voters, polls show.
Pollsters Rafi Smith, whose latest survey for Israel Radio gave Herzog-Livni 26 seats, two ahead of Likud, isn’t counting the pair out.
If they “can focus on the economy and the social side” and project confidence “that they can revive the peace process without giving everything away” to the Palestinians, “there’s a chance they might win,” he said.