'I can make Barak's dream come true'

Livni mocks defense minister's "dream of being education minister and prime minister at once."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Barak 224 88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Barak 224 88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni mocked a comment made by Defense Minister and Labor chair Ehud Barak Tuesday night, saying that she could make his "dream" of becoming education minister come true. Speaking at an education conference in Holon, Barak had said that his "dream" was to be "prime minister and education minister at the same time." In response Livni quipped, "I can realize half of his dream for him." In his address Barak also referred to the budget which was passed by the government on Monday, which he said would not be able to pass in the Knesset as it "would need to go through amendments, so as not to create dilemmas between defense and education." During the conference, Livni also spoke of the state of the education system, saying that she would rank all potential coalition partners on their education plans, as she believed that there was not "enough governmental stability" to pass a plan in a consensus. Currently the front-runner in the Kadima primary race, the foreign minister would have to put together a coalition should she win the September vote. "If we're talking about security," she continued, "we're not talking enough about national strength, and education is part of national security... education dictates how many people enlist [in the IDF], and what sort of soldiers they will be... the children in the education system today will become the scientists of the future." Mimicking the defense minister's comments, she quipped: "I have a dream to be involved in education, in the position of prime minister."