Israel Matzav

Why Feigele can't be Prime Minister

I've told you all before why I think Foreign Minister Tzipi Feigele Livni would be a disaster as Israel's Prime Minister. But with Time Magazine selecting her as one of the hundred most influential people in the world, with Condaleeza Rice writing the tribute, it's time to remind everyone why Feigele should not be Prime Minister.

Writing in IsraelInsider Likud MK Uzi Landau takes Livni to task for UN Security Council Resolution 1701:

Livni concocted Security Council Resolution 1701 to bring an end to the war. She boasts about it. If they comply with the agreement, she argued, things will be good for Israel. The results are known: Since the war, Hizbullah continues to grow stronger and enjoys a ceaseless flow of missiles and advanced weapons through Syria. In practice, because of the foreign armies deployed along the border according to the agreement, the IDF will find it difficult to hit Hizbullah in order to protect northern residents.

On which information was Livni's expectation that Hizbullah would deliver on its part of the agreement based ? Which experience did she have when it was time to make such a crucial decision? Had she at least learned history, she would have been careful not to utter a sentence that is reminiscent of what British Prime Minister Chamberlain said before his death: "Everything would have been all right if only Hitler hadn't lied to me."

Livni, with all due respect, is where she is not by merit but by chance. She was able to jump on the right bandwagon at the right time. She has no independent worldview. She zigzagged with her positions based on momentary political benefits to be gained by her opportunism. And while she's finishing up her one-year internship at the Foreign Ministry, she's already rushing to do some basic training at the Prime Minister's Office, at the expense of the public.

Have we lost it completely? Are we going to be guinea pigs again? Can Israel allow itself to undertake more human experimentation?

Indeed, one need only look at the predictable results of Resolution 1701 to realize just how poor a job Livni has done as foreign minister. For those who have forgotten, go back and read this post from February, which summarizes a number of posts that I did last August criticizing 1701. And if any of you still think it accomplished anything, have a look at this article from the Jerusalem Post. Hezbullah says that it is ready to fight again.

"Hizbullah has rebuilt its itself and is prepared for another Israeli strike," Naim Kassem, the deputy secretary general of the Iranian-backed terror organization told Al Jazeera TV on Saturday.

"We have completed the groundwork necessary and we have new battle plans," Kassem added.

...

A high ranking Lebanese official said that Hizbullah has been rearming itself at an accelerated pace. "All that Hizbullah had achieved in six years, since Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon, it has now managed to gain in only six months," the official was quoted by Army Radio as saying, adding that "Hizbullah renewed its rocket arsenal and built new concrete bunkers north of the Litany River and in the Eastern border of Lebanon."

UN resolution 1701, passed at the end of fighting last August, called on Hizbullah to completely cease rearming.

IDF reserve soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, whose unconditional release was also demanded by resolution 1701, are still held by Hizbullah.

Sounds like Feigele accomplished a lot with 1701, doesn't it?

The only reason Livni wasn't criticized in the Winograd interim report is that the report only dealt with the first five days of the war. Livni had no role in the war's outset other than voting in favor of it in the cabinet. But she played the leading role in its end by agreeing to Resolution 1701. She should come in for lots of criticism in the final report.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:03 PM