Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni (Hebrew: ציפי (ציפורה) מלכה לבני, pronounced [tsiˈpoʁa malˈka ˈtsipi ˈlivni]; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former foreign minister, vice prime minister, minister of justice, and leader of the opposition. She is known by some for her efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Widely considered the most powerful woman in Israel since Golda Meir, Livni has served in eight different cabinet positions throughout her career, setting the record for most government roles held by an Israeli woman. She was the first female Israeli vice prime minister, justice minister, agriculture minister, and housing minister.
Born to a prominent right-wing, revisionist Zionist family, Livni has become one of Israel's leading voices in support of a two-state solution—one that ensures Israel's security and identity as a Jewish and democratic state. Among her supporters in Israel and in international media, Livni was given the nickname "Mrs. Clean" for her image as an "honest politician."
From 2001 to 2009, Livni served in the cabinets of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, most notably as foreign minister, during which time she led multiple rounds of peace talks with the Palestinians. In September 2008, Livni prepared to take office as prime minister, but the political climate in the country prevented her from forming a government. The following year, she led her party to win a plurality of seats in the Knesset, but was again blocked from becoming prime minister, due to the rightist parties' majority in the Knesset. Consequently, she served as leader of the opposition from 2009, until her resignation from the Knesset in 2012.
Later that year, Livni founded a new party, Hatnuah, to compete in the 2013 elections, after which she was appointed justice minister in the Thirty-third government of Israel, again leading a new round of Israeli–Palestinian peace talks. In December 2014, a number of policy disputes within the government led Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss Livni from his cabinet, which led to new elections. In the 2015 election, Livni joined forces with Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog to create the Zionist Union, a unified bloc of their two parties. In January 2019 Avi Gabay announced that Labor would not run with Hatnuah in the April 2019 Israeli legislative election. On 18 February 2019, following several weeks of poor poll results, Livni announced her retirement from politics as well as Hatnuah's withdrawal from the election.
Born in Tel Aviv, Livni is the daughter of Eitan Livni (born in Poland, now part of western Belarus) and Sara (née Rosenberg), both prominent former Irgun members. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Eitan and Sara Livni became the first couple to marry in the country of Israel. Her father served as the chief operations officer of the Irgun.
As a child, Livni was a member of the Betar youth movement and played basketball for Elitzur Tel Aviv. Growing up in an Israel dominated by the Israeli Labor Party, Livni says she felt marginalized, believing that the establishment had minimized her parents' contribution to Israel's founding. Despite the hard-line image of the Irgun, she says her parents had respect for the Arabs and acted only against the British army, not civilians.
During the 1984 Likud primaries, her father, who had served in the Knesset for Herut and Likud as a moderate, did not campaign for a seat in the Knesset, and urged party members to support a Druze candidate instead because he thought it important for Likud to have Arab representation.
Livni served in the IDF, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. Livni began studying law at Bar-Ilan University in 1979, but suspended her law studies when she joined the Mossad in 1980. She served in the Mossad from 1980 to 1984, between the ages of 22 and 26. According to an interview in Yedioth Ahronoth described in The Sunday Times, she served in the elite unit responsible for the assassinations following the Munich massacre. She resigned from the Mossad in August 1984 to marry and finish her law studies.
Education, family, and legal career
Livni graduated with an LL.B. from Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law in 1984. She practiced at a private firm for about ten years, specializing in commercial law, public law, and real estate law, before entering public life in 1996.
Livni resides in Ramat HaHayal, Tel Aviv. She is married to advertising executive Naftali Spitzer, and the couple have two children, Omri (born 1987) and Yuval (born 1990). Spitzer, who was raised in a Mapai-supporting family but switched to Likud in 1996, has gone on to support his wife's political career from the start in the 1990s.
Livni is a vegetarian. Besides her native language, Hebrew, Livni also speaks fluent English and French, having lived in Paris for a number of years.
Livni's father, Eitan Livni, a Herut member of Knesset, died in 1991. Her mother, Sara, who died in 2007, stood by Livni's decision to leave Likud and also accepted her support for the two-state solution, although it "hurt her."
Livni entered politics in 1996 when she ran for a spot on Likud's Knesset list and was given place number 36 on the slate. Likud won 32 seats in the 1996 election, leaving her out, but newly elected Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed her as director general of the government-owned corporations authority, where she oversaw the privatization of a number of companies. While in this capacity, in 1998 she was considered a prominent candidate to become director general of the Finance Ministry.
Livni would later rue the decision to privatize certain companies and natural resources. As Hatnuah chairwoman in 2013, she wrote: "I am not sure that today I would once again privatize Israel Chemicals and the natural resources at the Dead Sea."
Livni was first elected to the Knesset as a member of the Likud in 1999. She initially did not take an active role in lawmaking. When Ariel Sharon became prime minister in 2001, he appointed her to numerous positions in his cabinet. Her first cabinet position as a Likud member was Minister of Regional Co-operation which she held from 7 March 2001 until 29 August 2001. In December 2002 Sharon appointed her to serve as Minister of Agriculture. She held this position until February 2003. In 2003, Livni was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption. She held this position until 2006. In 2004, Livni was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction, a position which she held until 2005. After Shinui left the coalition, Sharon appointed her Minister of Justice. In this capacity, Livni's prominence on the national stage grew, and she was considered a person of integrity who stood on the side of the rule of law, particularly with respect to various corruption cases attributed to different members of her party.
Livni was an avid supporter of Sharon's disengagement plan, and was generally considered to be among the key moderate members of the Likud party. She often mediated between various elements inside the party, and was integral to garnering government support for disengagement with the "Livni Plan". She made efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including successful efforts to have the pullout from the Gaza Strip ratified by the Knesset. On 12 November 2005, she spoke at the official annual commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. In 2004, she received the Abirat Ha-Shilton ("Knight of Governance") award.
On 20 November 2005, Livni, a member of Likud's moderate wing, formed the Kadima Party with Sharon and Ehud Olmert. Ahead of the 28 March elections, Livni was appointed to be the new foreign minister, while continuing to serve as justice minister, as a result of the mass resignation of Likud Party members from the government.