Tzipi Livni gets no love this time around, as Shlomo Avineri, an Israeli political scientist, writes in Haaretz: Tzipi Livni is a serial failure, based on her own record.
"Tzipi Livni.. doesn't have political leadership ability and this absence has
accompanied her in her public life thus far," he writes. "It is a pity that after
months of activity hidden from the public eye - as though it were a
matter of planning a secret military operation - she did not manage to
overcome her passions and admit her limitations."
Livni, by no intention, is strengthening Benjamin Netanyahu's chances by "splitting the political center while weakening the sole
opposition party, the Labor Party.. At a time when Netanyahu has managed to
unite the right, Livni, in her mistaken moves, is helping to strengthen
it further," Avineri writes.
Avineri goes on citing her colossal failure, by the four major mistakes she has undertaken in less than five years:
If indeed a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians was within reach, "after Olmert's
resignation she made the worst mistake of her political career: She
could have put together a government in partnership with Shas, but she
was not prepared to give in to its financial demands. That is the way a political leadership
that can distinguish between what is important and what is essential
works."
"Livni's second mistake was after the election, when she conditioned her entry into the government on prime ministerial rotation with Netanyahu and a public declaration from him that he supports a two-state solution. She should have joined the government and fought from within for that goal."
"The third mistake was when, as leader of the opposition, she did not conduct a consistent and coherent fight against the Netanyahu government. Though she never missed an opportunity to lash out at him, she did not propose an alternative diplomatic, social and economic program. As a result, Kadima evaporated as a meaningful party."
"Her fourth mistake was the way she dealt with her failure in the internal Kadima elections against MK Shaul Mofaz. She simply got insulted, resigned hastily from the Knesset and left her supporters shocked and abandoned."
With a daunting record of failures like this, both when in power and
when in the opposition, it is not clear what Livni can offer the voter, Avineri concludes. "There is no doubt she will make impressive speeches, but she made them
in the past, too. In the test of results, she has failed time after
time."
