Tzipi Livni child, Livni was a member of the Betar youth movement and played basketball for Elitzur Tel Aviv. Growing up in an Israel dominated by the Labour Party, Livni says she felt marginalized, believing that the establishment had minimized her parents' contribution to Israel's founding. Despite the hard-line image of the Irgun, she says her parents had respect for the Arabs and acted only against the British army, not civilians. During the 1984 Likud primaries, her father, who had served in the Knesset for Herut and Likud as a moderate, did not campaign for a seat in the Knesset, and urged
Tzipi Livni finish her law studies. A graduate of Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law, she has practiced public and commercial law for over 10 years. Livni resides in Tel Aviv. She is married to advertising executive Naftali Spitzer, and the couple have two children, Omri (born 1987) and Yuval (born 1990). Livni has been a vegetarian since the age of 12. Besides her native language, Hebrew, Livni also speaks fluent English and French, having lived in Paris for a number of years. Livni's father, Eitan Livni, a Herut Member of Knesset, died in 1991. Her mother, Sara, who died in 2007, stood