• Published 11:12 07.09.09
  • Latest update 15:46 07.09.09

Livni: Netanyahu a small-time leader who can't make decisions

Kadima head said PM doesn't want to make fateful decisions, just gets by on speeches and photo-ops.

By Mazal Mualem Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu Kadima Israel news Tzipi Livni

Opposition leader and Kadima party chief Tzipi Livni blasted the Netanyahu government on Monday, calling its policy amateurish and indecisive and denying she had any intentions of having Kadima join the government.

"Netanyahu's policies are the policies of a small-time politician", Livni told Army Radio Monday, adding that Netanyahu "at his core, doesn't want to decide" on what his stance on final status issues will be.

"The decision isn't on the question of [settlement] construction. The decision is whether or not there will be two states here for two peoples - things that Kadima has already declared its support for," Livni said.

"It's not just that he doesn't make fateful decisions - he doesn't want to make them. He makes do with speeches and photo-ops."

In July, Livni criticized Netanyahu's performance in his first 100 days in office, calling the prime minister's new-found support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "the height of hypocrisy."

"For the first time in world history, not only is the opposition doing all it can to bring down the government, the government is working to bring down the opposition. We have not yet seen this."

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  • 16. 0 0
    Constructive?
    • Henrik
    • 08.09.09
    • 14:25

    Tzipi Livni's criticism about PM Netanyahu maybe correct or incorrect or something in between. But the way I see it, her comment with such aggressiveness and maybe even total rejection of Netanyahu's and his government's leadership, may easily hinder Knesset co-operation. And being the chief of the influential opposition party Kadima, she isn't showing her party members a very good example on how to try to work with politicians from different camps with different views. She is also perhaps "burning the bridge" for future co-operation between the lines.

  • 15. 0 0
  • 14. 0 0
    This from the Queen of Surrender and defeat
    • Josiah J. Ben David
    • 07.09.09
    • 21:20

  • 13. 0 0
    Livni the irrelevant
    • Michael
    • 07.09.09
    • 19:53

    Livni should take up comedy. Livni who couldn't form a government with Shimon Peres as President. Enough said.

  • 12. 0 0
    Ms.Livni is possibly right!
    • Attila
    • 07.09.09
    • 17:51

    Few unexpected scenarios should be developed. And Livni may takes majority of votes in next electorial.

  • 11. 0 0
    Very True
    • Vladek
    • 07.09.09
    • 17:25

  • 10. 0 0
    Mrs. Livni, please keep your decisions to yourself
    • Vitaly
    • 07.09.09
    • 17:13

    We don't need neither Livni nor her decisions.

  • 9. 0 0
    What did anyone expect?
    • Mark Lincoln
    • 07.09.09
    • 16:27

    Netanyahu had already failed as PM. Why should anyone expect different now? Livni, however,shows a deeper problem. Israel, a nation founded by giants, has raised a generation of midgets in the shadows of those giants. Little, petty and incompetent. The natural product of party lists it would seem.

  • 8. 0 0
    observation
    • potobac
    • 07.09.09
    • 15:58

    As long as Israel keeps its unworkable electoral system in which almost every splinter group has effective veto power over government decisions it will be forced to behave the way Netanyahu is now. It's Israel 's choice: get an effective system or flounder.

  • 7. 0 0
    Livni who ?
    • Nora Tel Aviv
    • 07.09.09
    • 15:54

    (End)

  • 6. 0 0
    Netanahu
    • Philip
    • 07.09.09
    • 15:49

    To 1.Gordon is a giant compared to our Bibi,think of Bibi as being a pygmy edition of Gordon.This way you will get some idea of our delima.

  • 5. 0 0
    I honestly believe
    • Chris Linthwaite
    • 07.09.09
    • 15:49

    Netanyahu thought he could turn up anywhere on Planet Earth declare he was a Jew from Israel and the Planet would jump in unison to his demands. Then Obama got elected and reality hit him in the face like a cartoon fryingpan. The ghost of his brother, and the need to impress his father has made Netanyahu into a paronoid person. And Paranoid people try to either make friends ith everyone or are determined everyone is an enemy. Israel's recent behaviour suggests the latter. Livni is correct the only decision Netanyahu is capable of is who to piss off today to satisfy his delusions.

  • 4. 0 0
    LIvni speech
    • Larry
    • 07.09.09
    • 15:10

    As long as Israel keeps keep recycling politicians from the ash can, what do you expect? Israel is one of the youngest democracies in the world and has one of the lowest turnovers of politicians of any. And, the extraordinary capacity to put back into public office, individuals who have been discredited and should have been retired years ago to write their memoirs. Yesterday's politicians with yesterday's ideas, but, great expense accounts.

  • 3. 0 0
    Sour grape that must stop !
    • Akram Zekaria
    • 07.09.09
    • 14:48

    "Livni: Natanyahu a small-time leader ..."

  • 2. 0 0
    Livni
    • Brod
    • 07.09.09
    • 14:41

    Livni should not allow herself to be a tool of the world of AntiSemites and Islamist-Jihadists who want to usurp the Land of Israel and reduce Israel into a tiny indefensible enclave in the Middle East. If she were smart and patriotic, she should be supporting the government in confronting and countering the dark forces who are crusading their Jihadism on Israel.

  • 1. 0 0
    He sounds just like Gordon Brown!
    • Manny Goldstein
    • 07.09.09
    • 11:53

    That description fits Gordon Brown and both politicians are not popular with the Obama administration!