Livnat: Likud should have woman near top of list

Culture and Sport Minister tells 'Post' that women needed in the Knesset to "provide a different perspective."

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Limor Livnat 311 R (photo credit: Reuters)
Limor Livnat 311 R
(photo credit: Reuters)
There must be more women in the Knesset, the cabinet, and near the top of the Likud’s Knesset list, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat said on Thursday, three days ahead of Likud’s primary.
Livnat, the head of the ministerial Committee on the Status of Women, has been the only woman in the current government’s security cabinet, which has fluctuated to as many as 15 ministers.
“Women provide a different perspective,” Livnat told The Jerusalem Post.
“They bring added value. It is wrong that I am the only woman in a forum that makes such important decisions. I hope Likud members enable me to continue getting things done.”
Livnat spent the past week visiting bomb shelters in Ashdod, Ofakim and Ashkelon. She gave interviews to 15 foreign media outlets at the Ashkelon shelter.
During Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip, politicians did not overtly campaign, so Likud candidates are trying to pack all of their political work in the final three days before the primary.
Livnat said she would be on the phone non-stop between now and Sunday, excluding the Sabbath.
Click for full JPost coverage
Click for full JPost coverage
When asked why she in particular could appeal to eligible Likud voters in the primary who are immigrants from English-speaking countries, she said they should vote based on her record in fighting for Zionist causes in the ministries she ran. She noted her efforts to broaden Zionist curricula as education minister and prevent a cultural boycott of Ariel and restore funding for cultural projects in Judea and Samaria in her current post.
“Anglo-Saxons in Likud are lovers of Israel who are very Zionist,” she said. “I am a Likudnik all my life, since my parents fought for the state. In my DNA, I have deep faith that the people of Israel are back home and that the land belongs to us. The Left’s constant criticism of me shows I am doing things right.”