TZIPI LIVNI CRITICIZES NETANYAHU FOR BRINGING UP THE HOLOCAUST AT UN SPEECH

I would've posted this sooner, but because of Yom Kippur it took some time. Who would've thought that, if there's any Israeli politician who could slam Netanyahu for his excellent speech last week, that it would be none other than Tzipi Livni:

Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni became the first Israeli politician to criticize Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's landmark speech to the United Nations, in an interview she gave to Channel 2 on Saturday afternoon.

Netanyahu made a mistake when he invoked the horrors of the Holocaust in his criticism of Holocaust-denying Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Livni said. The comparison could harm Israel's diplomatic efforts and make Israelis question their security, she said.

"We have to be careful not to encourage the world to think that Israel was established because of the Holocaust," Livni said. "When Obama said so in Egypt [at Cairo University in June], there was a justified uproar. It is wrong to compare any event in history to the Holocaust, because it minimizes the most horrible historic event that happened to the Jewish people. It also makes Israeli citizens feel less secure. The Jews of Israel in 2009 are not the Jews of Europe in 1939, and I've said this to Netanyahu."

Livni also attacked the prime minister on the diplomatic issue, saying that he is "neither ready nor interested in making the tough decisions."

"He is merely trying to survive, and this stalling might be good for Netanyahu, but it is not good for Israel," she said.

I don't think that disgraceful woman understood anything he said. He was not trying to compare anything, he was condemning Ahmedinejad for committing Holocaust-denial while threatening to commit mass murder with nuclear warfare. He was also expressing his disgust at the UN for allowing the monster a platform on which to spew his hatred.

I think Livni is the one who's going to frighten Israelis with her approach to the subject.

She even attempts moral equations - or something like that - in an attempt to offset the damage she's doing:

Livni also criticized her party's former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, for the far-reaching offer he made to the Palestinians that he revealed an interview to the BBC last week. She said that she, unlike Olmert, would not allow the influx of more than a thousand Palestinian refugees to within Israel's final borders.

"I had differences of opinion with [Olmert] on how to manage the diplomatic process and on its content," she said. "For me, there is no right of return, not symbolic and not partial. I would not even accept the entrance to Israel of a single refugee, and the Palestinians and the Arab world know this."

Sorry, but it's just weak, when she was lending herself at the time they were running the government to the damage Olmert was doing. I don't buy a word of what's she saying.

Likud MKs slammed Livni for criticizing Netanyahu's General Assembly speech despite the rave reviews it received in Israel and around the world. Party officials criticized Livni for vacationing in Hawaii during the proceedings at the UN and over the Rosh Hashana holiday.

"Livni should have stayed abroad instead of harming the diplomatic efforts of the state," coalition chairman Ze'ev Elkin said.

"It is very unfortunate that instead of supporting the prime minister in his struggle against Iran and international terror and welcoming his successful speech at the UN that was universally praised, the head of the opposition is allowing politics to interfere is issues that are part of the Israeli consensus."

I fully agree on that. Now is not the time for pathetic and needless criticism of a speech that's meant to protest evil. Livni is only showing why she really has no talent to be a prime minister, let alone a politician.

PERES GIVES NETANYAHU THE TASK OF FORMING A GOVERNMENT COALITION

The great news has now arrived: president Shimon Peres has asked Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government.

Tzipi Livni, who must doubtlessly be humiliated, and deservedly so, at not being given the honor of doing so, doesn't want to join. Despite what the article says though, I don't know if she has the backing of her entire party to sit in the opposition. There is the possibility that several Kadima members may want to join. Or maybe they'll oust Livni like France's social party did with Segolene Royale.

WHO WILL LEAD ISRAEL?

Tomorrow Israelis head to the polls in order to determine who will be their next Prime Minister.(Photos courtesy of Zipni's Facebook page and Netanyahu's Facebook page)

Netanyahu calls for "unity" in a news conference he held with Yuval Rabin, son of the late, great Yitzhak Rabin.

IDF Soldiers and Border Police have begun voting already, as polling continues to trend towards a tight Likud victory tomorrow. It seems that the Yisrael Beiteinu Party is the dark horse that could have a huge impact, as well.

Avigdor Lieberman, their chairman, is open to a coalition with Livni in case of a Kadima-Likud tie in the Knesset.

Outgoing PM Olmert formally endorses Livni and postulates that she will be the "18th Prime Minister" of the Jewish state.

Likud is very concerned that Kadima will gain a come from behind victory, especially as Livni pushes secular voters, independents, young adults and the key female demographic.

Follow special campaign coverage @ The Jersulem Post, YNet News, Haaretz and Isreal National News.

Live blogging and security related alerts @ The Muqata, Isreallycool and Israpundit.

Crossposted @ Let's Get It Right.

IDF RESPONDS TO HAMAS CONTINUED THUGGERY

IsraellyCool informs us about the IAF's response to repeated transgressions of the "cease-fire" by that Islamo-Fascist hive of malevolence, Hamas.

Of course, those "evil" officers of the IDF actually had the audacity to actually warn their intended victims/collateral damage possibilities.

The actual IDF news brief reads as follows:

In response to the barrage of Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired at Israel today, which wounded an Israeli civilian and two IDF soldiers, the Israel Air Force attacked a number of targets throughout the Gaza Strip a short while ago.

The targets attacked include six smuggling tunnels and a Hamas
outpost.

As the sole authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas bears full responsibility for all terror activity originating within its area of control.

However, DEBKAFile cites the ongoing tension between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, as to the appropriate manner to counter-act the continued provocations of Hamas in Gaza.

Ted Belman @ Israpundit goes into greater detail regarding this row and, personally, as one who admires Livni but comprehends that Bibi is now the proper option, I would postulate that she in major damage control mode, especially as Kadima could actually come in fourth place on the 10th of February.

Read more about the actual strikes and its intended targets here.

Also, outstanding live blogging @ The Muqata here.

On another note, apparently, according to YNETnews.com, all is NOT quiet on the Eastern Front as IDF soldiers had to take out some dangerous psychopath in the West Bank, who no doubt is presently enjoying his 72 trans-gendered virgins (or more likely camels) in Hell!

Lastly, and this is a little dated, Little Green Footballs has a video from Davos wherein Pres. Shimon Peres goes on an electrifying 20 minute diatribe against the extremist Prime Minister of Turkey......It is a must watch and can be found here.

***On a personal note I would like to state that this is my first post on this incredible blog, and it is an honor and privilege to have been extended the courtesy to do so. I will invariably do my level to best to carry its message and battles to all corners of the globe!!!

I can also be found & read on my main site, Let's Get It Right.

NETANYAHU: OLMERT IS UNFIT TO LEAD

Benjamin Netanyahu has given his own press conference about Ehud Olmert (via J6D Newsblog):

Labor chairman Ehud Barak must insist on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's departure following the publication of the Winograd Report on the Second Lebanon War, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters.

Netanyahu said the failures the committee noted in its report and the fact that most of the nation believes that Olmert must resign obligated him to do so.

"Olmert refuses to take responsibility, to demonstrate personal honesty and leadership and to do what most of the public expect him to do," Netanyahu said. "The prime minister is emptying of content the concept of responsibility. The people of Israel know today that they are led by a prime minister who is not qualified or fit to lead them.

Barak knows this and he knows that the public expects him to ensure that this failed leadership does not continue."

Netanyahu accused Olmert of "running from responsibility" after losing a war in which his government had unprecedented national and international support and an unprecedented advantage over its enemy in Israel's longest battle since the War of Independence. He rejected attempts to blame the IDF for the war's failures.

"The IDF warriors fought heroically," Netanyahu said. "An amateur government is responsible for the failure."

That's right, it's the government that let down the army and the public.

CAPTURE OF SHALIT KIDNAPPER "LIKE A SCENE OUT OF A HOLLYWOOD ACTION MOVIE"

TAB tries to keep a relatively close watch on how many of Gilad Shalit's kidnappers have been brought to justice. But we've never had the opportunity to post about one who was arrested in a way so objectively full of awesome:

It sounds almost like a scene out of a Hollywood action movie. Soldiers disguised as Hamas militiamen abduct a senior Hamas terrorist who stops in the middle of a road in southern Gaza after an "old man" leaning on a cane collapses in front of his car. If the Palestinian reports are true, then elite Israeli forces penetrated deep into the heart of Rafah late Friday night to nab Mohawah al-Qadi, a senior member of Hamas's armed wing and a commander in the Executive Force believed to be connected to last year's kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Schalit. According to the Palestinian reports, Qadi was abducted by Israeli forces and then taken to the abandoned Dahiniye Airport, where he was picked up by an IAF helicopter and transported into Israel.

You're not going to want to hear this - but Barak has gotten a pretty good start on restoring the IDF's credibility. He'll be genuinely put to the test over the next few weeks as Hezbollah and Syria attempt to take advantage of what will almost certainly be an IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip. If he handles the next month well, he'll post a legitimate electoral threat to Netanyahu and the Likud.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]