Likud-Beytenu has no intention to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority for a two-state solution, Tzipi Livni said on Monday at Bar-Ilan University, where, in 2009, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu became the first Likud leader to agree to a Palestinian State.
"Netanyahu did not want to say those words, and refused to say them before the last election," Livni said. "Those are the words that he had to say after the election because of international pressure, the words he refused to make a reality over nearly four years that have passed since then."
Livni referred to reports that Likud-Beytenu will not include a Palestinian state in its platform, saying that Netanyahu's speech was just a shield he held up on his travels around the world in which he said Israel seeks peace.
The Likud platform has never recognized a Palestinian state, and Yisrael Beytenu's most recent platform says the idea of a Palestinian state is meant to camouflage the Palestinians' goal to destroy Israel.
The joint list has yet to publicize its new platform ahead of the January 22 election, as the Likud campaign pointed out in response to Livni's speech.
"Today, the whole world knows that this speech was just lip service, a mask of moderateness on an extremist face," she added.
Livni spoke out against politicians who act differently than how they say they will before the election, and said Israelis should reject the idea that politicians trick them before the election and demand they tell the truth.
"The Bar-Ilan speech was a spin and a trick, and now we see the reality, which isn't a spin, of extremism washing over Likud-Beytenu and Netanyahu's partners," she said. "This election should not be about words, but about content. Netanyahu buried the Bar-Ilan speech, and I will revive its principles."
Livni said she believed in a two-state solution from the time she entered politics, adding that diplomatic issues are what led her to return to the political arena after taking a break earlier this year.
As a Bar-Ilan graduate, Livni said she found it important to discuss peace talks in a place that teaches Jewish values, because an agreement is the only way to keep Israel a Jewish State.
"Anyone who thinks a two-state solution is because we're doing a favor to [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas, [US President Barack] Obama or [designated US Secretary of State] John Kerry, is totally wrong. It's the only way to continue the Zionist vision of a Jewish national home," she explained.
According to Livni, refusing peace talks will turn Israel into a bi-national or Arab state, because there is an Arab-Palestinian majority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Livni also criticized Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, saying he is the same as Netanyahu, and that any argument between them is fake and conjured up for their election campaigns.
"It's very comfortable for Netanyahu to get in front of the cameras and criticize Bennett for talking about refusing orders – and he's right, refusing orders goes against our values – but it's less comfortable for him to face his party. [Likud-Beytenu candidate Moshe] Feiglin criticized Bennett for taking back what he said, because Feiglin thinks refusing orders is the right thing to do. [Likud-Beytenu candidates Tzipi] Hotovely and [National Resources Minister Uzi] Landau are the same, and Netanyahu will have to keep living with them and pay ideological lip service to them," Livni added.
The Tzipi Livni Party leader explained that this shift rightward is the reason she left the Likud with former prime minister Ariel Sharon, and accused Netanyahu of not following in the path of the Likud's founding leader Menachem Begin who emphasized the rule of law.
"Judges, not rabbis. Law not halacha [rabbinical law]," she declared.
Livni also appealed to National-Religious voters, saying that as a group, they have great values but the extremists among them "who fight to keep every inch of the Land of Israel" and "give a monopoly on Jewish values to haredi parties" will lead Israel to cease to be a Jewish State.
"The Jewish people have a historical right to every inch of Israel, but to keep the country Jewish, we need to give some of it up," she stated.
In response to Livni's speech, Likud-Beytenu's campaign said it is "amazing how quickly Tzipi Livni once again defends the Palestinians."
"One needs to be deaf in order to not hear, blind to not see what is happening in Gaza and the countries in the region, and still insist on rushing to the diplomatic abyss," the campaign added. "All that's left is to wait and see when Livni will admit her blindness, which endangers Israel. Should the Hamas take over Judea and Samarai, too, and shoot at us from there?"