Tzipi Livni Iran must be stopped from attaining nuclear weapons. Prior to Lebanon's 2009 general elections (and its inclusion of Hezbollah), Livni "acknowledged an important principle" from U.S. President Barack Obama's then-recent speech in Cairo that "Elections alone do not make true democracy." She explained her position in a "New York Times" op-ed by alluding to her experience as Israel's justice minister when Hamas participated in Palestinian elections in 2006: "At the time, the counterargument was that the very participation in elections would act as a moderating force on extremist groups. With more accountability, such groups would be tempted to abandon their
Tzipi Livni role of leadership, and as far as I’m concerned I would repeat each and every decision." In November 2011, the three candidates opposed to Tzipi Livni in 2008 called for a primary to be held as soon as possible, citing the probability of Knesset elections soon. On 19 January 2012, Livni set the primary date for 27 March 2012. Livni lost by a wide margin (64.5% to her 35.5%) to challenger and former defense minister Shaul Mofaz. In May 2012, despite Mofaz's appeal for her to remain in the party, Livni resigned from the Knesset. She stated that although she