Livni: Israel on quick path to anarchy

Speaking at TAU, Livni says that a Palestinian state would make a Jewish state more legitimate.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Livni lovely 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Livni lovely 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Continuing her campaign for the leadership of the Kadima Party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni again railed against corruption in politics on Monday, promising to restore the public's faith in its elected representatives. "There is no doubt that the public has lost its faith in politics," Livni said during a speech at Tel Aviv University. "From here the path to an unstable foundation of democracy and anarchy is very short." "This year we celebrated [Israel's 60th anniversary]," she continued, "but if you ask the first person you meet on the street what is the state of the nation, he would say in one word, 'bad.'" She added that this was "a collective feeling that demonstrates a lack of public faith in elected officials." "It's enough for one leg to be crooked in order to twist all of democracy," the foreign minister said. "The first thing a politician must do when elected is to return the faith to the public. The elected official must get to know his office, to talk with the office workers, to try and create reforms if change is needed. "We are living in the world of the Internet. Headlines change from second to second, from minute to minute," she said. "Our common dream is disappearing. We need to return to our common denominator. We need to remind ourselves what our nation is about. The demand of the Palestinians for a home of their own is the very thing that makes our demand for a Jewish homeland legitimate," she concluded. Likud MK Yuli Edelstein responded that Livni earned her loss of faith in politics by forming Kadima, which he said violated public norms and led to the deterioration of Israeli politics.