Thread: Tzipi Livni is Israel's new Prime Minister

Tzipi Livni - dove, former Mossad spy, .... , Israel's new prime minister.

Discuss.

Hope she's tough enough to scare away that maggot Ahmadinijad.

Hope she can read a real estate map.

She's not PM yet. She's now leader of Kadima and has 40 days to form a new government, otherwise there'll be a general election and the polls are indicating if that happens Nuttyahu will win. Forming a workable coalition isn't going to be easy, but I hope she can do it. A few good things about her is that she's untouched by the stink of corruption which sank Olmert, and she's moved from being really hawkish about the Palestinians to being someone who it looks could be able to broker peace with both the Syrians and the Palestinians. An upside (or downside probably in Israeli politics) is she doesn't have the military background that most other PMs have had, which means she'll probably not be as gung-ho as some of the past ones have been. Fingers crossed that she does become PM and she's a good one...

Originally Posted by nonsqtr

Tzipi Livni - dove, former Mossad spy, .... , Israel's new prime minister.

Discuss.

Maybe she will initiate the ass whooping that Iran has coming.

Originally Posted by Violet Crumble

She's not PM yet. She's now leader of Kadima and has 40 days to form a new government, otherwise there'll be a general election and the polls are indicating if that happens Nuttyahu will win. Forming a workable coalition isn't going to be easy, but I hope she can do it.

I don't think it'll be too difficult - all she needs to do is keep the current coalition together. Labour will not be in government if there's an election now, so there's little change of them not agreeing to a coalition. She was meeting with the leaders of Shas about them staying in government - and as long as they're on board the government only needs one other MK. The problem I see is that there'll have to be concessions to the ultra-Orthodox or some hawkish, right-wing party. I can't see the government going into coalition with the Arab or far left parties; and the right know they're expected to do well at an election; so have little incentive to join a government pre-election.

Originally Posted by caffeine

I don't think it'll be too difficult - all she needs to do is keep the current coalition together. Labour will not be in government if there's an election now, so there's little change of them not agreeing to a coalition. She was meeting with the leaders of Shas about them staying in government - and as long as they're on board the government only needs one other MK. The problem I see is that there'll have to be concessions to the ultra-Orthodox or some hawkish, right-wing party. I can't see the government going into coalition with the Arab or far left parties; and the right know they're expected to do well at an election; so have little incentive to join a government pre-election.

Yr right about the right not having much incentive to join the coalition. Nuttyahoo knocked back an offer to join a unity cabinet, so I guess he's got his eye on the shiny prize of winning an election. I think it'll be bad for Israel and any chances of a peaceful resolution to the conflict if Livni can't form a govt and he wins an election...

Originally Posted by Violet Crumble

Yr right about the right not having much incentive to join the coalition. Nuttyahoo knocked back an offer to join a unity cabinet, so I guess he's got his eye on the shiny prize of winning an election. I think it'll be bad for Israel and any chances of a peaceful resolution to the conflict if Livni can't form a govt and he wins an election...

But if she can form a government it will probably mean agreeing to a hardline on Jerusalem and the West Bank to appease her ultra-Orthodox allies - which also limits chances of a peaceful resolution.

Edit: Maybe I'm wrong. Shas appear to be saying they will join the government in exchange for a commitment to bring back child benefits - which I suppose is an important issue given the sheer number of children religious fanatics tend to have. The Palestinian issue was, apparently, not discussed - but I'm sure that, if it comes to it, Shas would happily bring down the government rather than allow it to negotiate over Jerusalem.

Originally Posted by Tick

Maybe she will initiate the ass whooping that Iran has coming.

Rumor has it that Israel has already asked the US for permission, at least once. They were turned down.

Originally Posted by nonsqtr

Rumor has it that Israel has already asked the US for permission, at least once. They were turned down.

I believe that Israel would attack, with or without the permission of the U.S., because Israeli paranoia trumps reason, it appears. If Iran had actually wanted to destroy Israel, it could have done so many times over, IMO.

I'm personally happy to see Russia backing Iran, because the U.S. hasn't actually forced the Israelis to use reason and appears to nurture the paranoia rather than to make them think things through with respect to all of the ramifications an attack would entail. (In other words, an attack is utterly stupid, IMHO.)

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