The National Union's leader, Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz, blasted Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Saturday evening for her remarks in a Washington Post / Newsweek interview. Livni's commitment not to reconquer Gaza exudes weakness, he said. “The commitment emasculates the offensive spirit of the IDF operation and strengthens Hamas's morale,” he said.

“The idea is not to reoccupy the Gaza Strip,” Livni was quoted as saying in the interview. “When we left the Gaza Strip, Hamas used to write on billboards that terror won and Israel left Gaza because of terror. So today the message for the Palestinians is that we left the Gaza Strip in order to create hopes for peace. But now we are coming back because of terror.”

When asked if Israel was thinking about stopping the operation in Gaza, Livni answered: “On a daily basis. We are not looking to reoccupy the Gaza Strip. But we need to see that we achieved our goals.”

She then went on to explain that “the Annapolis process is based on the understanding that we are working with a pragmatic leadership in the Palestinian Authority while fighting terror. It is a zero-sum game when Hamas is getting stronger while Abu Mazen is getting weaker. The Palestinians need to understand that Israel can share and implement and translate the vision of two states for two peoples with those that accept this vision, who accept Israel's existence and renounce violence and terrorism. Hamas does not. Hamas does not represent the national aspirations of the Palestinians. It represents extreme Islamic ideas, which they share with Iran, Hizbullah and Syria.”