Livni rejects notion she was ‘burden’ on Labor

MK Tzipi Livni, a co-leader of Zionist Union, says she was dismayed to hear complaints throughout the election campaign that she was a “burden” on the Labor Party, adding that facts are “totally opposite.” She said the “burden” turned out to be an addition of 12 Knesset seats.

Speaking on Israel Radio, Livni says that in the last two days of the campaign Netanyahu revived his comments from the mid-1990s campaign about left-wingers “not knowing what it means to be Jewish” and leveraged strong sentiments of fear among voters.

In the 19th Knesset, Labor had 15 MKs and Livni’s Hatnua had six, totaling 21. After the two parties merged in the run-up to elections for the 20th Knesset, the newly named Zionist Union won 24 seats. It is not clear how Livni did the math.