Livni tzipi biography of alberta

Before joining Kadima, she was a member of the center-right Likud Party. Livni was born 8 July in Tel Aviv , into a prominent political family. Both her parents were members of the Irgun, a right-wing Jewish nationalist underground organization that fought against the British mandate in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel.

Her father, Eitan Livni, was a right-wing hero who was operations chief of the Irgun; he later became a Knesset member for Menachem Begin 's Herut Party. Livni grew up in Tel Aviv. After finishing high school, she completed her compulsory military service in the Israel Defense Forces IDF , attaining the rank of lieutenant. She then went on to study for a law degree at Bar-Ilan University.

Livni worked for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad for four years, from to Following that, she practiced law in a private firm for ten years, specializing in public and commercial law. From to , Livni worked as the director general of the Government Companies Authority, which was responsible for the privatization of government corporations and monopolies.

Livni entered national politics in when she was elected to the fifteenth Knesset as a member of the Likud. She quickly rose through party ranks. From to , she was a member of the Likud opposition to the Labor-led coalition government of Ehud Barak. Following the Likud's victory in the February general elections, Livni was appointed minister of regional cooperation in Prime Minister ariel sharon's government.

She went on to hold various positions in Sharon's governments —, — , including minister of agriculture and rural development, minister of immigrant absorption, minister of housing and construction, and minister of justice. Livni became known to the Israeli public during this time, and gained a reputation as one of the more centrist and dovish members of the Likud Party.

On 12 November , she became the first politician from the Israeli right to speak at the official annual commemoration of the assassination of yitzhak rabin. Livni was a strong supporter of then- prime minister Sharon, and backed his controversial plan for a unilateral Israeli disengagement from Gaza. She was instrumental in getting the Knesset to approve this plan, against the objections of other Likud Knesset members.

After Sharon left the Likud in November and established a new centrist party, Kadima, Livni resigned from the Likud and joined Sharon in the new party. In January , she was appointed acting foreign minister by acting Prime Minister Olmert following the resignation of Silvan Shalom. She also continued to serve as justice minister.

In the March election for the seventeenth Knesset, she was placed third on the party's list of candidates, which effectively guaranteed her reelection to the Knesset. After Kadima won the March election, Olmert formed a new coalition government and appointed Livni as foreign minister. She was also given the title of vice prime minister. During Israel's monthlong war with Hizbullah in July , Livni staunchly defended Israel's actions to the world and engaged in intensive diplomacy to gain international support for Israel.

She held this position for three years, from to Livni became a member of the Knesset with Likud for the first time in the elections for the Fifteenth Knesset. In spite of its tumultuousness, Livni retained her status as a member of the Knesset for the entirety of the Fifteenth Knesset. In this time, she held a number of appointed government roles, including Minister of Regional Cooperation, Minister Without Portfolio, and Minister of Agriculture and Urban Development.

Livni remained a member of the Knesset with Likud following the elections for the Sixteenth Knesset, which ran from to During the Sixteenth Knesset, she again served in a number of government positions. These positions included Minister of Immigration and Absorption and Minister of Constructions, as well as more significant postings as Minister of Justice and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Although Livni began her political career staunchly opposed to territorial concessions such as those outlined in the Oslo Accords in the mids, by she shifted to endorsing reasonable territorial concessions in the interest of keeping Israel a Jewish and democratic state. In January of , Sharon suffered a fatal stroke, prompting elections for the Seventeenth Knesset in March of that same year.

Kadima, now headed by Ehud Olmert, won the most seats in the elections and Livni continued as a member of the Knesset. By this time, Livni had held the most positions, and the highest-ranking government position, of any woman in Israeli history outside of Golda Meir. However, she was not able to form a working majority coalition citing a refusal to capitulate to the Sephardic-Mizrahi Orthodox party, SHAS , which led to the elections for the Eighteenth Knesset in Courtesy of the United States State Department.

Source: Flickr. From to , Livni served as the Head of the Opposition in the Knesset. She resigned from the Eighteenth Knesset in March following her ouster as the head of Kadima, after an internal party split along more conservative and more liberal lines led to a redistribution of delegates that caused Livni to lose the popular support of the party.

She was elected as a member of the Knesset with Hatunah in the elections for the Nineteenth Knesset, during which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed her as Minister of Justice and chief negotiator with the Palestinian Authority. The Nineteenth Knesset dissolved that same month. On 18 February , following several weeks of poor poll results, Livni announced her retirement from politics as well as Hatnuah's withdrawal from the election.

As a child, Livni was a member of the Betar youth movement and played basketball for Elitzur Tel Aviv. During the Likud primaries, her father, who had served in the Knesset for Herut and Likud as a moderate, [ 14 ] did not campaign for a seat in the Knesset, and urged party members to support a Druze candidate instead because he thought it important for Likud to have Arab representation.

Livni served in the IDF , attaining the rank of Lieutenant. She served in the Mossad from to , between the ages of 22 and According to an interview in Yedioth Ahronoth described in The Sunday Times , she served in the elite unit responsible for the assassinations following the Munich massacre. Livni graduated with an LL. She practiced at a private firm for about ten years, specializing in commercial law , public law , and real estate law , before entering public life in Spitzer, who was raised in a Mapai -supporting family but switched to Likud in , has gone on to support his wife's political career from the start in the s.

Livni is a vegetarian. Livni's father, Eitan Livni , a Herut member of Knesset, died in Her mother, Sara, who died in , stood by Livni's decision to leave Likud and also accepted her support for the two-state solution, although it "hurt her. Livni entered politics in when she ran for a spot on Likud's Knesset list and was given place number 36 on the slate.

Livni would later rue the decision to privatize certain companies and natural resources. As Hatnuah chairwoman in , she wrote: "I am not sure that today I would once again privatize Israel Chemicals and the natural resources at the Dead Sea. Livni was first elected to the Knesset as a member of the Likud in She initially did not take an active role in lawmaking.

Her first cabinet position as a Likud member was Minister of Regional Co-operation which she held from 7 March until 29 August In December Sharon appointed her to serve as Minister of Agriculture. She held this position until February In , Livni was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption. She held this position until In , Livni was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction , which she held this position until In this capacity, Livni's prominence on the national stage grew, and she was considered a person of integrity who stood on the side of the rule of law, particularly with respect to various corruption cases attributed to different members of her party.

Livni was an avid supporter of Sharon's disengagement plan , and was generally considered to be among the key moderate members of the Likud party. She often mediated between various elements inside the party, and was integral to garnering government support for disengagement with the "Livni Plan". She made efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli—Palestinian conflict , including successful efforts to have the pullout from the Gaza Strip ratified by the Knesset.

On 12 November , she spoke at the official annual commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin 's assassination. Ahead of the 28 March elections, Livni was appointed to be the new Foreign Minister, while continuing to serve as Justice Minister, as a result of the mass resignation of Likud Party members from the government. In the selection of candidates for the March Knesset election , Livni was awarded the number three position on Kadima's list of candidates, which effectively guaranteed her election to the Knesset.

In Ehud Olmert's government, Livni was also appointed Designated Acting Prime Minister also known as Vice Prime Minister , taking the place of the prime minister if he or she is outside the country or temporarily or permanently unable to fulfill his or her duties. She ceased serving as Justice Minister at that time, but again held that position from 29 November to 7 February , while still serving in her primary role of Foreign Minister.

During these negotiations, she raised the possibility of fixing the future border between Israel and the future Palestinian state so as to place Israeli Arab towns within the Palestinian state, an idea originally suggested by Israeli politician Avigdor Liberman. After the March Knesset election , she was described as "the second most powerful politician in Israel".

Livni became the first Israeli cabinet minister to explicitly differentiate Palestinian guerrilla attacks against Israeli military targets from terrorist attacks against civilians. In an interview on the US television news show Nightline , recorded on 28 March , Livni stated, "Somebody who is fighting against Israeli soldiers is an enemy and we will fight back, but I believe that this is not under the definition of terrorism, if the target is a soldier.

In , she met with Palestinian prime minister , Salam Fayyad , to discuss "improving the lives of the Palestinian people, without compromising Israel's security. She offered herself as leader of Kadima if Olmert decided to step down, and asserted her confidence in her ability to defeat him in a party election should he decline. In , Livni condemned a photomontage of Pope Benedict XVI with a swastika displayed on his chest, which was published on a website run by supporters of her Kadima party.

Facing multiple criminal investigations for corruption, Ehud Olmert announced his intention to resign his post as prime minister following a Kadima leadership election, which was held on 17 September Livni and Shaul Mofaz emerged as the main rivals for the leadership. As the new leader of the ruling party, Livni became prime-minister designate.

Upon declaring victory, she stated "the national responsibility bestowed by the public brings me to approach this job with great reverence. On 21 September , Olmert formally resigned in a letter submitted to president Shimon Peres , and the following day Peres formally asked Livni to form a new government. Livni cited her unwillingness to sell out her principles just to become prime minister, stating, "I was willing to pay a price to form a government, but I was never willing to risk the political and economic future of Israel.

If someone is willing to sell out his principles for the job, he is not worthy of it. In February Israel held elections for the Knesset. Livni, foreign minister and head of the Kadima party, campaigned against Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party to lead the new government. While election results gave Kadima the most seats in the Knesset, parties to the right in Israel's political spectrum gained enough seats that a coalition government under Kadima leadership was unlikely.

As a result, Israeli president Shimon Peres asked Netanyahu and Likud which received one fewer seat than Kadima in the elections to form a government; this was the first time in Israel's history that the party with the most seats was not asked to attempt to form a government. The New York Times commended Livni for "refusing the extortionist conditions set by Shas ," and endorsed her candidacy for prime minister, saying Israelis would have "a clear choice in February between a leader who has the courage to abandon tired old thinking on politics and security and one who has not.

When Livni was tapped to form the next governing coalition, Palestinian political analyst Mahdi Abdel Hadi said that Livni had been received warmly in the Gulf, and that she was the leader most Arabs want to see as Israel's next prime minister. Following the elections in which Livni's Kadima won the most seats, but could not form a government, she took the party into opposition, becoming Israel's first female leader of the opposition.

After an internal Foreign Ministry document stated that some European Union countries were considering freezing a planned upgrade in relations with Israel, Livni, as opposition leader , wrote in the message addressed to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana , the EU's external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner , and the EU's current council president, Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg : "You all know my commitment to peace between Israel and its neighbors and to the two-state solution, a commitment shared with the majority of the Israeli public.

I believe that this kind of attitude, one which directly links an upgrade in relations with regional diplomatic progress, is overlooking the substantial gains that the upgrade could provide both to the people of Israel and the people of Europe. Iran represents the threat of extreme Islamic state". She said Iran was a threat to other countries in the region, and Iran must be stopped from attaining nuclear weapons.

Prior to Lebanon's general elections and its inclusion of Hezbollah , Livni "acknowledged an important principle" from U. President Barack Obama 's then-recent speech in Cairo that "Elections alone do not make true democracy. With more accountability, such groups would be tempted to abandon their militant approach in favor of a purely political platform.

But this analysis ignored the possibility that some radical groups sought participation in the democratic process not to forsake their violent agenda but to advance it. This would include requiring every party running for office to renounce violence, pursue its aims by peaceful means and commit to binding laws and international agreements.

She addressed an event held at the gay community's municipal center in Tel Aviv's Meir Park. On 8 October , Livni was honored by Yale University as a Chubb Fellow for her work and the inspiration spurred by her activities. The list also includes former U. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Livni referred to the Goldstone Report accusing Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, and said there was a huge ethical gap between those seeking to murder children in their homes and those unintentionally harming civilians used by terrorists as human shields.

Referring to the Israeli shelling of several UN schools in Gaza where thousands of civilians were taking shelter during the — Israel—Gaza conflict , Livni insisted that she "regret s every civilian casualty, but what happened at the UN school was not a mistake. As opposition leader, Livni noted in a Knesset speech that she herself did not support Yitzhak Rabin 's policies at the time.

She delivered a speech which many found deeply moving in which she said the day Rabin was murdered was "the day that the skies fell down on me because of what happened to us, to all the citizens of Israel. Labor Party officials were not keen on this idea, fearing that her appearance would cost them votes. Some Kadima officials also seemed reluctant, fearing her appearance at left-wing event would send some votes Likud 's way.

Livni tzipi biography of alberta

After a draft document authored by Sweden the then-holder of the rotating EU presidency surfaced that calls officially for a division of Jerusalem and implies that the EU would also recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood, Livni wrote a letter to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt , saying it was "wrong and not helpful," and that she conveyed "deep concern regarding what appears to be an attempt to prejudge the outcome of issues reserved for final status negotiations.

During the — Israel—Gaza conflict , Livni was criticized by Arab League Chairman Amre Moussa who said that "I am greatly surprised by, and I reject, the words of the Israeli foreign minister Livni , who asks: 'Is there a humanitarian crisis? There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza'. Hamas now understands that when you fire on its citizens it responds by going wild — and this is a good thing.

In December , a warrant for Livni's arrest was understood to have been issued by a British court, following an application by lawyers acting for Palestinian victims of Operation Cast Lead. The warrant focused on Livni's role in Israel's war against Hamas-run Gaza earlier in the year, and was withdrawn after her visit was canceled.

For several years, Palestinian activists have made largely unsuccessful attempts to prosecute Israeli officials in European courts under universal jurisdiction. The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband , contacted Livni and his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman to formally explain the incident and apologize on behalf of the British government.

Judges in the United Kingdom can issue arrest warrants for war crimes suspects around the world under the Geneva Conventions Act without any requirement to consult public prosecutors, which was something Miliband described as "unusual". Yehuda Blum , Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations and a professor of law at Hebrew University of Jerusalem , commented: "The abuse and misuse of this concept of universal jurisdiction should be discontinued.

Israeli officials, acting under orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the British ambassador they expect quick action to change the law. In , private groups asked the UK Crown Prosecution Service to issue an arrest warrant against Livni under universal jurisdiction because of her alleged role in Israeli military action against Gaza in December Keir Starmer , Britain's chief prosecutor, blocked the issue of an arrest warrant.

In November , the three candidates opposed to Tzipi Livni in called for a primary to be held as soon as possible, citing the probability of Knesset elections soon. On 19 January , Livni set the primary date for 27 March Livni lost by a wide margin In May , despite Mofaz's appeal for her to remain in the party, Livni resigned from the Knesset.

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