Launching her campaign for the Kadima primary in September, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declared Tuesday that after winning the race, she will immediately work to form a national unity government with Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor's Ehud Barak. Speaking at a gathering of activists at the Kadima branch in Hadera, Livni said that a unity government is the best thing for Israel at a time of internal disputes and external threats, and promised there would be room for members from Meretz to Yisrael Beiteinu.
"I think that out of this swamp it is possible to generate a very broad common denominator: a unity government that will advance the peace process," Livni told Haaretz. "Bibi, too, understands now that the concept of economic peace is not enough. He also says so. The same goes for investing in education and changing the government within the framework of a unity government."
Livni commented on the negative publicity she has received in the past few days, including attacks attributed to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert implying that she is not cut out to function under pressure, as well as a Channel 1 television report Tuesday night about her past service in the Mossad.
"I know they'll be gunning for me," she told Haaretz. "I knew it from Day 1, but I made a decision from the start not to get hung up on other people and not to deal with what others say about me. I'm coming from a place where any question is legitimate, and I know they'll keep trying to go after me, but I don't get into that. My life story is open to everyone, including my political and security experience. In recent years I was a partner in the government to reaching significant political and security decisions, including Resolution 1701, and I wish to be judged on the basis of those decisions."