News and Politics | September 17, 2008 | 16 comments

Livni replaces Olmert as Israel prime minister

source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/17/africa/17israel-vote.php

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PaliNadia
JERUSALEM: Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, claimed victory in Kadima party voting shortly after the polls closed on Wednesday, with official results announced early Thursday.

"You were just incredible," Livni said in a conference call to supporters that was broadcast on Army Radio, Reuters reported. "And the good guys won," she said.

The selection of a new head of the party, Kadima, was prompted by police investigations of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on allegations that he took money illegally while he was mayor of Jerusalem and industry minister. Olmert is expected to stay on as a caretaker prime minister until a new coalition is formed.

Kadima is less than three years old. It was formed by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon had been a leader of the rightist Likud party but, like Livni and Olmert, who also began on the right, became convinced that the only way for Israel to maintain its status as a Jewish state was to end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, where a total of nearly four million Palestinians live.



Is she really any better than Olmert?
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16 comments // Livni replaces Olmert as Israel prime minister

  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  

    • Hardcore Zionist roots... that frightens me. Is she really for a Palestinian State? Is she going to continue peaceful talks, or reinforce the wall system? I don't live there so I don't really have a vested interest in their politics, but I do feel that the Palestinians haven't been given a fair shake by any stretch of the imagination, and that is largely because of Israeli leadership and policy...

    • 3 years ago
  • GeoffNI
    • 0
      GeoffNI  

    • I hope Bibi becomes new Prime Minister after the elections. I believe he will be I just want the elections to happen sooner. Kadima are not the way forward.

    • 3 years ago
  • AntiFacistCanuck
  • mattbrawn
    • 0
      mattbrawn  

    • Although she "has 42 days to form a new government" she was quoted as saying on the BBC news today that she hopes to do it in a much shorter time span, as in days instead of weeks.

      Here's hoping that this is the start of a peaceful and trouble-free coalition.

    • 3 years ago
  • stone246
    • 0
      stone246  

    • she has a very impressive resume lets see if she can actually win the elections for prime minister later on next year. She is facing some serious issues that she needs to figure out before she can win.

    • 3 years ago
  • Robroy1
  • WorldPeaceTV
  • joshuaheller
  • ClayCreature
  • Jackstowne
    • 0
      Jackstowne  

    • Honestly, I don't know who else could do the job. I'm just scared that even she's not up to it, nor is anyone else.

      And yes, she's certainly better than Olmert but that's not saying much.

    • 3 years ago
  • WorldPeaceTV
    • 0
      WorldPeaceTV  

    • I pray she does what she says she is. We need a major change in policy there as well as major positive action. She can do it, she's set the foundation.

    • 3 years ago
  • abbym0308
    • 0
      abbym0308  
    • Image

    • It's official. She is now the party leader.

      "In a victory speech early on Thursday, Livni said she would now begin efforts to form a new coalition government, putting her on track for the premiership.

      She has 42 days to form a new government if she hopes to avert snap elections that polls say would bring the right-wing Likud party to power.

      Livni, 50, who has been leading US-backed negotiations with the Palestinians, advocates an Israeli withdrawal from most of the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem in order to reach a two-state solution with the Palestinians." --Al Jazeera

    • 3 years ago
  • maasanova
    • 0
      maasanova  

    • Somehow I don't think she will be better. But now that I think about it, Olmert seemed to be like ten times better that Sharon the Butcher.

    • 3 years ago
  • GeoffNI
  • huntre
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