Tzipi Livni Affairs and Defense Subcommittee on International Lawfare, which she chairs. At the committee's inaugural meeting, Livni characterized the Palestinian motion as "part of an orchestrated diplomatic and legal struggle that is meant to create legitimacy for a Palestinian state with all that that means, and to deny legitimacy to the State of Israel." She argued that despite the lack of attention it receives, "[lawfare] is a war front as any other." The committee's mandate, according to Livni, is to "deal with lawfare not only to see how we can defend ourselves, but also to try to change international trends against
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.