Tzipi Livni have "a clear choice in February between a leader who has the courage to abandon tired old thinking on politics and security and one who has not." Although it expressed some doubts, the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" also endorsed Livni for prime minister. When Livni was tapped to form the next governing coalition, Palestinian political analyst Mahdi Abdel Hadi said that Livni had been received warmly in the Gulf, and that she was the leader most Arabs want to see as Israel's next prime minister. During the 2009 general elections, Arab media depicted her very negatively but as the lesser of
Kadima Mussolini's newspaper "Avanti" (Italian for "Forward"). According to Sharon supporters, on the first day after its founding, Kadima already had nearly 150 members, most of whom were defectors from Likud. Several Knesset members from Labor, Likud, and other parties immediately joined the new party, including cabinet ministers Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Meir Sheetrit, Gideon Ezra and Avraham Hirschson. Deputy ministers Ruhama Avraham, Majalli Wahabi, Eli Aflalo, Marina Solodkin, Ze'ev Boim and Yaakov Edri also joined the party, along with Likud MKs Roni Bar-On and Omri Sharon. Former Histadrut chairman Haim Ramon of Labor decided to join the party shortly thereafter.