Tzipi Livni
There is a mutual interest between Israel and the United States of America. It is more than friendship - it is friendship plus mutual interest, and it is bipartisan.Collection: Friendship
I worked in the Mossad for a few years.
When it comes to matters of religion and state, Bayit Yehudi is more extreme than the ultra-Orthodox.
I arranged the first meeting between Ariel Sharon and the settlers.
The Iranians are abusing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to gain more support from radical elements in the region.
After I retire, I have my own vision, which is not connected to the state of Israel. It's about me, living near the sea, and maybe writing something about the past.
We are fighting to keep Israel a democracy - not just in terms of its electoral system but also in terms of its values.
In a democracy, you need to have a strong judicial system. You need freedom of speech, you need art, and you need a free press.
My responsibility is to ask, 'How can I serve my ideology and my voters?'
I didn't go into politics out of concern for the Palestinians but out of concern for Israel.
The Palestinian national movement is not an Islamic religious movement.
I may have been born in Tel Aviv, but my umbilical cord emerges from the Temple Mount.
Everybody wants to live in peace.
What I am trying to say to Israel is, 'Listen, borders is something that we need, and hopefully, peace is something that we need.'
The reason for the blockade on Gaza was not to punish the Palestinians but to continue to delegitimize Hamas.
On the right of Israel to exist and to defend itself, there is no opposition in Israel.
My husband is in branding. He brands places - cities, institutions.
I believe Israel needs branding. I want that the word 'Israel' will relate not just to an Israeli soldier or a camel, but Israel as an advanced liberal society with a strong economy and great people.
I'm not asking myself, 'How I can be different from Netanyahu?' because I am different, and Kadima is different from Likud, by its own nature.
The last thing that Israel needs is to be part of the internal agenda in the United States between Republicans and Democrats.
You know how my mother and father met? In a train robbery!
I think we need to change the system of elections in order to give less power to some sectors in Israeli society.
Sept. 11 was a shock to the whole world.
I don't think that everything is a zero-sum game in which, when the president of the United States says something, that means that he is pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli, or vice versa.
For me, it is clear that when it comes to the need of Israel to defend itself, the role of the United States of America is crucial.
An Israeli soldier is raised on values of respecting human life, and they don't change their values when they turn 18 and enter the army.
The role of a leader is to create a reality and not to be influenced by polls.
Most of the Israelis reside in settlement blocs which will be part of the state of Israel in the future, and they will remain in their homes.
Israel needs to change direction, and this is not just political. We're becoming more closed-in, more isolated, more scared. Those who talk tough are making the State of Israel very weak, very isolated - very Jewish, in the Diaspora-sense, in that 'everyone is against us.' We need to get out of this.
Relations between countries are built on values and interests and many other things, but at the end of the day, leaders are also only human beings.
A romantic relationship requires honesty between a couple.
Hamas's strategy is resistance and survival. As long as they survive, this is a victory.
Hamas does not represent the national aspirations of the Palestinians. It represents extreme Islamic ideas, which they share with Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria.
Israel was established as a homeland for the Jewish people and embraced all the Jews who had to leave Arab states. This should be also the true meaning of the future Palestinian state. It should be the answer for the Palestinians wherever they are - those who live in the territories, and those who are being kept as political cards in refugee camps.
I am a pretty good lawyer, and I decided to close the office and to enter politics.
Supporting the war on terror is not an anti-Palestinian act. It is anti-terror.
There is an essential difference between someone who harms a child on purpose and someone who harms a child by accident during combat in civilian territory.
Turkey knows the importance of its ties with Israel; it knows it's in the same moderate camp with Israel, the moderate Palestinians and other Muslim countries, and the threat to Turkey is not from us.
A leader in any place must ask himself who he identifies with, with which values, and towards what goals.
Something that truly frustrates me is the impression in Israel that when you are talking about security, you are bold; you are tough: this is what we need against all the enemies that we have. And when someone is talking about peace, you know, it's the naive left wing, soft.
I don't envy my teachers. I used to preach to them.
I'm not a person of mentors.
When I make decisions, I'm not thinking about my parents. I'm thinking about my children.
It's important to be the gatekeeper against dangerous ideas.
My ideology is not connected to the Palestinians.
You can't put your name, recognition, your money in a company without having share in the control.
I've been involved in ties with elements in the Arab world for years now. They wish to establish relations with Israel, but they cannot do so while there is no peace process.
The wise Jewish Israeli must work with the moderate Muslim and the Christian leader of the free world against the crazy Muslims.
The attitude of 'every nation unto itself' is a destructive one for the future of Israel.
There is an intimacy and trust that is needed between leaders, between their assistants and advisers. Usually, you have the real substance behind closed doors; and the press conferences, you have niceties, nice photo ops.