Israel Matzav

Calling Livni on her incompetence

I have discussed many times on this blog why simply replacing Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert with Foreign Minister Tzipi Feigele Livni is not the answer to what ails the State of Israel. This is partly because her policies would be no different than Olmert's but partly because she is simply incompetent. This came to light most in her handling of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 in the summer of 2006, which it seemed that she never understood. Or did she? In her JPost column this week, Caroline Glick cites a passage from John Bolton's new book that makes me think that she did understand just how bad 1701 was, but like her boss, Olmert, she just tried to cover it up:

And yet, Livni's diplomatic skills couldn't even secure her own limited and incorrect goal of securing a binding, strong international force in south Lebanon. In his book, Surrender is not an Option, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton wrote that on the eve of the Security Council vote on Resolution 1701, which set the terms of the cease-fire, Livni complained to Rice, "You've given away the cease-fire, you've given away Chapter VII, you've given away Shaba Farms, now tell us why we should sign on to the resolution?"

But of course, when the next day the resolution passed unanimously in the Security Council, Livni was quick to tout it as a strategic success. And ever since, in spite of the fact that under 1701 Hizbullah has rearmed and reasserted its control over south Lebanon; paralyzed the Lebanese government; expanded its influence over the Lebanese military and intimidated UNIFIL, Livni continues to uphold the resolution as proof of her own competence. And she has yet to be called on this.

As far as I am concerned, she just has been.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:40 PM