Livni says Kadima won't exist in next election

Kadima endorses '67 borders in new platform, slams its former leader, saying she presided over its consistent erosion.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Livni speaks at Herzliya Conference 390 (photo credit: Courtesy of Kadima)
Livni speaks at Herzliya Conference 390
(photo credit: Courtesy of Kadima)
Former Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni eulogized her own party at a symposium at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya on Tuesday night that she thought was off record.
An Army Radio reporter taped Livni when an audience member asked her whether or not Kadima would be part of the next government. “In the next election, [Kadima] will not exist,” she said.
The Kadima Party slammed Livni for her pessimistic comments over its future, saying: “Kadima does not need advice from a woman who abandoned the party after presiding over its consistent erosion over the span of three years.”
MK Ronit Tirosh went further, saying that “after she slaughtered the party, she is shooting at it from close range to verify its death.”
But MK Nachman Shai, who sat next to Livni when she made the remarks, said her words were “taken out of context and out of proportion.”
Livni made no effort to clarify her remarks all day Wednesday. When she released a statement on Twitter and Facebook 12 hours after reports came out about what she said about the party, she made no reference to the remarks. Instead, she criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu regarding Wednesday’s State Comptroller’s Report.
If Livni indicated that she thought the Likud and Kadima would run together when she said Kadima would not exist in the next election, that possibility became less likely on Wednesday night when the party released a new dovish diplomatic platform.
MK Avi Dichter wrote the platform, which he will present at Kadima’s ideological convention on Thursday at Bar- Ilan University in Ramat Gan. He tweeted the document to his followers on Wednesday night.
It endorses the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state based on pre- 1967 lines with Israel keeping large settlement blocs via land swaps. It is purposely vague on Jerusalem, saying that Israel would not return to pre-1967 lines in the city.
The platform says nothing about refugees.
Socioeconomic issues and the pursuit of social justice will be at the top of the party’s agenda.