I
really don’t believe in reincarnation, yet a few days ago my disbelief was somewhat undermined. Tzipi Livni stood on stage at a Kadima meeting, yet out of our mouth spoke former Shinui Chairman Tommy Lapid. It was odd, as Tommy is no longer with us; he must be in heaven, arguing with some great rabbis. Yet here was Tzipi: “Kadima will represent Israel and determine its identity as a Jewish state, without selling off the state to the ultra-Orthodox along the way.”
I must say this surprised me. Hey, it’s Tommy Lapid. That’s not the kind of statement that is commensurate with the blurred figure heading Kadima. This is juicy, unequivocal, and filled with hostility and hot blood. After all, Tzipi Livni never spoke like this. “Selling off the state to the ultra-Orthodox” even has some hidden, and overt, anti-Semitic tones. There are plenty of things one can find in this statement, yet it includes very little of the good old, pale Tzipi Livni.
After regaining my senses, I realized this was not Tommy speaking; rather, we were dealing with one of the public relations consultants that surround Livni these days. They are telling her to convey determination and belligerence toward the Orthodox and to woo the secularist Center, so that it would stay away from Bibi; and she’s going along with it.
The statement “we won’t sell off the state to the ultra-Orthodox” is playing up the old fears while trying to enlist them to the campaign. This is Livni’s way of saying that the state belongs to the seculars and that Kadima will protect it from the ultra-Orthodox...
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