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For the first time since Golda Meir stepped down in 1974, a woman could become Israeli Prime Minister, the BBC reports. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a former lawyer and spy for Mossad (the Israeli CIA equivalent), has won the leadership of the centrist Kadima party, the current ruling party in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. (The reason Livni will not necessarily become Prime Minister is complicated, but here's a summary.) Now that Livni has won the Kadima election — current PM Ehud Olmert is resigning amidst accusations of widespread corruption — she has 42 days to assemble a coalition of at least 61 of the Knesset's 120 seats from what the BBC describes as Israel's "mosaic of political parties." If Livni fails to gather this coalition, the President may give someone else another 42 days to come up with his or her own coalition, but more likely a general election of all the parties will take place in 3 months. More »
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• George W. Bush is in Israel right now where he equated Obama with Hitler over his suggestion that he meet with Ahmadinejad. I guess in Israel they have to smile when he talks but Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik doesn't look like her heart is in it. [Wash Post]

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Fracas over at Ms.! Some Jewish feminists are up in arms because the magazine refused to publish a full page ad that featured 3 Israeli women in politics: Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, Dalia Itzik, the speaker of the Knesset (Israel's Parliament), and the president of Israel's supreme court, Dorit Beinisch. The American Jewish Congress called Ms.'s decision "hostile" and "contemptible" and accused the mag of anti-Israeli sentiment. Ms. executive editor Katherine Spillar told UPI, "Our role at Ms. magazine is not to promote countries, it is to report on what's happening to women in different countries." [UPI] More »
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