At the start of the government meeting on Feb. 12, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded like someone who supports the possibility that Tzipi Livni, the former foreign minister and current co-chair of the Zionist Camp, would be appointed to the prestigious position of undersecretary-general at the United Nations even though she harshly attacks Netanyahu’s policies on a daily basis.
That morning, Israeli news outlets had reported that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had offered Livni the position about two weeks ago at a meeting in New York. According to reports, her possible appointment is part of a deal to enable the appointment of former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to head the United Nations' political mission to Libya, an appointment to which the United States objected Feb. 11.