AP News, May 2nd, 2007
Tzipi Livni learned politics early as the daughter of a prominent hard-line activist. Starting out in intelligence, she has made a meteoric rise through Israeli politics and is now the biggest threat to replace Ehud Olmert _ and become Israel's first female prime minister since Golda Meir.
A close ally of former premier Ariel Sharon, Livni followed a similar political metamorphosis. She started as a hawk, rejecting compromise with the Palestinians, but evolved into a centrist advocating creation of a Palestinian state while safeguarding Israel's security.
Perhaps reflecting her time as a Mossad agent as a young woman in the early 1980s, the 48-year-old Livni is cautious and deliberate _ a major departure from the affable, cigar-chomping Olmert, who has made costly missteps with his inexact wording in the past.
An example of Livni's low-key style was the careful phrasing of her demand to Olmert on Wednesday. "I told him that resignation would be the right thing for him to do," she told reporters, setting herself up to step in and become Israel's next premier.
While she does not have an electric presence, Livni consistently scores well in popularity polls, projecting a calm competence that resonates with an Israeli public worn down by years of conflict. She also has some experience in the military and security service, albeit in her 20s.
Bubbling under her sober demeanor is a droll sense of humor.
During an official trip Livni made to Moscow with Sharon, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that the prime minister had brought along a beautiful Cabinet minister in order to seduce Russian Jews into moving to Israel.
Later, when a reporter asked how she intended to "seduce" a million Russian immigrants, Livni deadpanned, "One at a time."
Born in Tel Aviv, Livni is much more comfortable speaking in Hebrew than in English, but during her year as foreign minister, she has received high marks from diplomats for her ability to communicate Israel's policies. Her official resume says she also speaks French.
A married mother of two, Livni earned a law degree at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv and she served as a lieutenant in the Israeli army before joining the Mossad.
Livni has quietly worked her way up through the ranks of Israeli politics, making few enemies and winning many admirers.
She started out as a member of the hard-line Likud Party, following the lead of her father, Eitan Livni, a pre-state underground fighter turned hawkish politician. She was elected to parliament as a Likud member in 1999.
She bolted the party along with Sharon to form the new Kadima Party, serving in his Cabinet overseeing the absorption of immigrants. She then catapulted to foreign minister when Sharon was felled by a stroke in January 2006 and Olmert took over as prime minister.
Now, one step away from the premiership herself, Livni made clear Wednesday she would remain in the government and not try to oust Olmert.
"I haven't worked and am not working to topple the prime minister. That's a decision he'll have to make," she said. "It's not a personal matter between me and the prime minister _ this issue is more important than both of us."
