Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Ari Shavit followed up on this dramatic column with
an extensive live interview on Israel Radio's Hakol Diburim program in which
Shavit reiterated that he was extremely careful to check and confirm the
information that he received.

"There is much information that I did not include in the article because I
was not able to confirm it with other sources. Everything in the article is
based on extensive conversations with many different reliable sources."

"There are countless examples of Livni's inability to make decisions."

Anchor Yaron Dekel asked why Shavit didn't raise these issues in his
extensive interview with Livni last week?

Shavit replied that he did raise issues and provided her the opportunity to
reply.

"When I asked her questions her replies had not content."

"Livni adopts policies that are complete opposites."

"Already since the article was published this morning, many people who know
the truth and haven't been saying it have called me. We went to the last
elections not dealing with Ehud Olmert's corrupt nature even though we knew
it and Amir Peretz's lack of strength in military-diplomatic affairs even
though we [AL: the media] knew it and we suffered the consequences. We
cannot allow this to happen again."

"I have been a guest in Barak's home just as much as I have been in
Livni's"]

===========

A cautionary note
By Ari Shavit Haaretz Last update - 01:55 04/02/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061380.html

Over the past week I took statements from about a dozen people who know
Tzipi Livni quite well. None of them is close to either Benjamin Netanyahu
or Ehud Barak. Most support Kadima or parties on the left. Nevertheless, all
are concerned. The portrait they paint of Livni is a disturbing one.

Kadima's chairwoman is a principled, patriotic, exemplary human being. She
is intelligent and a quick study. But there is one fault that no one
disputes: Livni is short-tempered. Her more serious critics believe she has
an attention deficit. She is incapable of delving into the details of a
document or of sustaining an extended discussion. She does not stay with a
topic until it has been completely clarified. Her thinking is not clear and
she cannot distinguish the wheat from the chaff. Unlike Netanyahu and Barak,
who can get to the bottom of an issue and discuss it in all its complexity,
Livni tends to oversimplify, to go for the schematic. One of the most
respected figures in the country says she is opinionated and superficial.

Nor is there any disputing a second flaw of Livni's: She finds it very hard
to make decisions. Even with noncritical decisions she deliberates, wavers,
delays and changes her opinion over and over. Some people believe the
combination of inexperience and lack of confidence paralyzes Livni. They
think the foreign minister is incapable of deciding whether to launch a
strike against Iran. Livni does not have the spine, levelheadedness and
internal calm necessary to take the most critical decisions.

Her third flaw is her total lack of emotional intelligence. Livni neither
understands people nor likes them. That is why she has no inner circle of
confidants. With the exception of her husband, Naftali Spitzer, she has no
trusted partners. Many people who made personal sacrifices on her behalf
feel betrayed. Unlike Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak, Livni lacks personal
warmth or charm. Few top Kadima figures like or believe her. In the party's
inner circles she is thought of as lacking leadership. The most common
comment is that she simply doesn't have it. Her ability to lead after the
election is in doubt.

Livni has several other faults. She does not take the long view, is
inconsistent, and her deep fear of failure prevents her from being daring
and original. She disguises her internal panic with exaggerated displays of
self-confidence that sometimes border on rudeness. Her appointments are
mediocre and her teamwork is poor. Many people at the Foreign Ministry view
her as some sort of country bumpkin.

All these issues, however, are dwarfed by the question of all questions that
Livni evokes: Who is she and what is her inner core? A few of the people I
spoke to this week had a disturbing response to this question: Tzipi Livni
is hollow. They argued that Livni lacks the cultural baggage, historic
vision, emotional tools and personal abilities of a leader. She has never
shown civil courage, has no achievements to her name and has never gone
against the tide. She recites a series of correct statements about dividing
the country but does not know how to translate them into policy. That is why
her negotiations with Ahmed Qureia failed and why her faith in Annapolis was
proved false.

But Livni's Palestinian failure is tiny compared to her Iranian error. Livni
did not understand the Iranian challenge in advance, did not take it on
board and effectively did nothing in the international arena to deal with
it. Iran's nuclear program is what turned Livni's term as foreign minister
into a colossal failure.

One of the people I spoke to was especially agitated despite being a mature,
restrained and conservative person. He told me he felt like a member of some
cult with a terrible secret: Tzipi Livni is not fit to be prime minister.
There is a black flag waving above her journey to the Prime Minister's
Office.

The witness said it was inconceivable to him that the media are not
revealing this secret; intolerable that the public does not know. That is
why he spoke, that is why I recorded his words. That is why this piece was
published. So the public will know - and decide.