The flotilla clash has united Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, head of the Kadima party, with the coalition government. “There is no opposition in Israel” to the embargo on Hamas, she said.
Knesset member Livni is a former Foreign Minister and was acting Prime Minister nearly two years ago after Ehud Olmert was forced to step down due to corruption scandals. Despite her constant criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu since he formed the current government, Livni stood four-square behind it following the flotilla clash.
“There is a process of trying to making it illegitimate for Israel to defend itself,” she said on CNN. "The embargo on Gaza is a necessity in order to stop Hamas and its supporters. Hamas is a fanatical religious terrorist organization that is not prepared to accept the existence of Israel. It uses terror against civilians and is not ready to accept any agreement between Israel and Arabs.”
The Opposition leader also spoke on the BBC, ABC and to media outlets from Australia and France, among others.
She pointed out that the flotilla organizers “from the outset” were not interested in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza residents. “If that is what they wanted, they could have accepted our suggestion to transfer the aid” overland from the port in Ashdod, Livni stated. “They wanted to break the embargo. It is a necessity in order to stop Hamas and its supporters.”
Concerning the violence, Livni said, “Our soldiers were brutally attacked, and then, in self-defense, they retaliated. Israel has the right to defend itself.”
Despite her solidarity with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Livni took a verbal shot at the government, asking rhetorically where the Cabinet were ministers while she was “running around like a maniac” to defend Israel in interviews for foreign media.