Eli Livni, brother of Kadima leader Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, has returned to his former Likud camp and is campaigning for his sister's main rival, Likud chairman and Knesset Member Binyamin Netanyahu. The job of Prime Minister "is too big for her," he was quoted as saying by Channel 2 television.
Both Eli and Tzipi were in the Likud until they followed then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon into his new Kadima party after he was unable to maintain enough support for the Disengagement program that destroyed a Jewish presence in the Gaza region and parts of northern Samaria.
Eli Livni earlier this year expressed disappointment with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and advised his sister to follow him and return to the Likud.
She is campaigning heavily for the women's vote, which Kadima aides estimate favor her. She told a group of women lawyers that she will act for more work equality among the sexes.
The Foreign Minister also maintained that while the Likud chairman spoke with Shas about a prospective coalition, she refused to "surrender to the dictates" of Shas.
Referring to her failure to form a government in September after she replaced outgoing Prime Minister Olmert as Kadima leader, she explained, "I also refused to all kinds of financial demands when trying to form a government coalition. "I could have formed a government, and there was one party that made all kinds of demands. I was told that Shas could not support me because it was angry that I stood my ground when I was Justice Minister and insisted that the Rabbinical Court include religious Zionists who know how to ease conditions for women."