Tzipi Livni "the second most powerful politician in Israel". Livni is the second woman in Israel to hold the post of foreign minister, after Golda Meir. In 2007, she was included in the "Time" 100 Most Influential People in the World. "Forbes" ranked her the 40th most powerful woman in the world in 2006, 39th in 2007, and 52nd in 2008. Livni became the first Israeli cabinet minister to explicitly differentiate Palestinian guerrilla attacks against Israeli military targets from terrorist attacks against civilians. In an interview on the US television news show "Nightline", recorded on 28 March 2006, Livni stated, "Somebody who
Meretz new chairman. On 22 December 2008, Meretz finalized its merger with Hatnua HaHadasha ("The New Movement") for the 2009 Israeli elections. The joint Meretz-Hatnua HaHadasha list ended up winning only 3 seats in the elections. This electoral loss was largely attributed to traditionally left-wing voters choosing to strategically vote for Kadima, in an effort to get Tzipi Livni to head the next government instead of Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud. Following the party's failure in the 2009 legislative elections, some of the party members called for the resignation of the party chairman Haim Oron and to give way for Zehava Gal-On.