Livni hints Zionist Camp may not sit in coalition with Likud

Tzipi Livni, the Zionist Camp party’s No. 2, indicated on Friday that the joint Labor-Hatnua list would not sit in a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.

In an interview with Army Radio, the former justice minister lashed out at Netanyahu and the Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, and responded to criticism that her party list lacks a figure with a strong security background.

“Unity is not a technical matter of giving out portfolios, it must revolve around [a unified] approach,” she said. “The way of Netanyahu and Bennett is a path that leads the State of Israel to decline in every aspect. It is important to understand who and what the blocs are in this election — there is one bloc of the radical right, which includes Likud and Bennett, whose way is very clear. Their way is not our way.”

To date, party chairman Isaac Herzog and Livni have not publicly ruled out sitting in a future coalition alongside the Likud party.

Livni’s remarks came on the heels of three separate polls which placed the Zionist Camp in the lead over Likud, albeit slightly. A Maariv poll on Friday gave the center-left party a three-seat lead over Likud (25 and 22 respectively); a Channel 10 poll gave it 24 seats to Likud’s 20; while a Channel 2 poll gave the Zionist Camp 25 and Likud 23.

In the interview Friday, Livni responded to rumors that a candidate with a military background — likely male — will fill the party’s reserved 11th seat, arguing that female candidates can be just as qualified on security matters. Seven of the party’s first 25 seats are filled by female candidates.

“As someone who sat in the security cabinet for about 10 years, who was one of the three major decision-makers — on war, on operations, including secret ones — I will continue to combat the perception that women can’t provide security solutions: They can — and how,” Livni asserted.