Tzipi Livni

Tzipi Livni was born in 1958 in Tel Aviv

Livni was born in Tel Aviv in 1958. Her parents, Eitan and Sara Livni, were Irgun members, and her father later served in the Knesset. As a youth she belonged to the Betar movement and was linked to the Elitzur Tel Aviv basketball team.

She served in the IDF and reached the rank of lieutenant. She began law studies at Bar-Ilan University in 1979 and served in the Mossad from 1980 to 1984. She then completed a law degree and worked as a lawyer for about ten years in commercial, public and real estate law.

In 1996 she ran in the Likud primaries but was not elected, and she was appointed head of the government companies authority, where she oversaw privatizations. She entered the Knesset in 1999. Under Ariel Sharon she held several ministries, including agriculture, immigrant absorption, housing and justice, and she supported the disengagement plan.

In 2005 she helped found Kadima, and she was foreign minister from 2006 to 2009, leading peace talks with the Palestinians. She became Kadima chair in 2008, and in 2009 the party won 28 seats, but she led the opposition. She left the Knesset in 2012 after losing the party leadership race to Shaul Mofaz.

She founded Hatnuah, which won 6 seats in 2013, and she served as justice minister until Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed her in 2014. She then formed the Zionist Union with the Labor Party. In 2019 she announced her retirement from politics.