Tzipi Livni and the ‘honey-trap’ question

Tzipi Livni (pictured), the leader of Israel's centrist Kadima party, has broken cover about working as an undercover operative for Mossad in her twenties. In an interview given 14 years ago, but published for the first time in full on Friday in Yediot Aharanot, she described the pressures of working for Bayonet, Mossad's elite hit squad, in the early 1980s. Stationed in Paris, she claims she was unable to tell even her closest family what she was doing and that it was impossible to form a lasting relationship - because “a romantic relationship requires honesty”.

Questioned about Mossad’s use of 'honey-trap' operations, she said she was never asked “to go to bed with someone for my country”. She continued: “But if I'd been asked to do it, I don't know what I'd have said. In the 'office' [Mossad's term for itself] there is a job tailored for everyone."

She acknowledged that she was prepared to kill for her country. "To kill and assassinate, though it's not strictly legal, if you do it for your country, it's legitimate," she said.

When the interview was first published it was heavily censored by the military and Livni was identified only as ‘L’.  Yediot Aharanot, a pro-Livni paper, appears to have run the full interview in a bid to enhance her reputation as she negotiates to put together a coalition government. But most observers believe her right-wing opponent Benjamin Netanyahu has a better chance. ·