Israel Matzav

Livni's new ally?

The Kadima Achora party, which is currently Israel's 'ruling' party, proposes to link itself to the Yedinaya Rossiya (United Russia) Party of Vladimir Putin. The person in Kadima who is pushing for the link is apparently none other than Foreign Minister 'Tzipora' Livni, who is currently the front-runner in Kadima's primary campaign. Her courting of Putin's repressive party has upset people within Kadima itself and in the opposition, and cannot be very pleasing to the United States either. With Clueless Condi scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday for 'talks,' one has to wonder whether this topic will come up.

The criticism follows a recent trip to Moscow by Kadima officials, including Nada Chozoy, who is on the staff of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Kadima treasurer Yitzhak Hadad, to meet with officials from Yedinaya Rossiya to discuss developing formal ties between the parties.

The envisioned relationship - first reported in the Russian-language Web site Izrus - is of the type commonly maintained between two parties with similar outlooks. Among other such connections, Kadima currently has ties to the Social Democratic Party of Germany which have resulted in mutual visits by party officials.

The proposed relationship with United Russia is described by a senior Kadima official familiar with the plans as "extremely preliminary." Yet officials in the Likud, and even some in Kadima itself, have blasted the initiative, saying this is a bad time to have Israel's ruling party developing close ties with the party of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, currently the cause of much anger in Washington and elsewhere over the conflict in Georgia, a close friend to Israel.

"This is a diplomatic problem for Israel's relationship with Washington," said a Likud official, echoing sentiments also heard from Kadima sources close to Transportation Minister and would-be Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz.

"If they did this to show that Livni was close to Russians [ahead of the Kadima primaries], then it backfired," the Likud official said, "because young Russian-speaking Israelis hate Putin's authoritarianism."

Does anyone still need more proof that Livni has no clue how to manage Israel's foreign relations?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:06 AM