Opposition leader and Kadima party head Tzipi Livni on Sunday said that Israel must view the threat posed by Iran as an opportunity to further peace with other neighbors in the region.
"Let me be clear: On the issue of Iran, there is no opposition party in Israel," Livni told an audience at the annual AIPAC conference in Washington.
Livni continued: "The threat from Iran has created new possibilities for alliances between Israel and the pragmatic states in the region - countries that realize that Israel is not the source of the problems in the Middle East."
The former foreign minister also told the conference of the pro-Israel lobby that time is not on Israel's side, and that a solution to the conflict with the Palestinians is not "an Israeli concession but an Israeli interest."
"If we try to buy time our problems will get worse not better," Livni said, adding that Israel's leaders must make difficult decisions sooner rather than later. "It is the evasion of difficult decisions, not taking them, that is the strategic threat to Israel's future."
Livni told the group that her objective is to ensure the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic State, even if it requires relinquishing land.
"We need to maintain a Jewish majority in Israel," Livni said. "This is not a technical matter, it is a matter of our survival. And in the choice between giving up our values, the 'raison d'etre' of Israel, and giving up part of the land, I choose the land."
Livni said that it is her role as opposition leader to "say these things loudly, clearly and respectfully."
"It will not be easy, but being a Jew never was," she said.
"If we care about the future of our people in our homeland we will all find the courage and the wisdom to make the choices we can no longer afford to avoid," she concluded.
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