Barak: Netanyahu misleading public, gov’t being ‘hijacked’ by extreme Right
Ehud Barak on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for misleading the public regarding Israel’s security interests, charging the government under his leadership was being “hijacked by the extreme right wing” and jeopardizing the nation’s future.
“The way Netanyahu spoke about Iran has misled the public more than once,” the former prime minister said at a cultural event in Tel Aviv, referring to Netanyahu’s multiple public addresses warning of Iran’s suspected nuclear program.
Barak explained that, as opposed to what Netanyahu may claim, “no one was eager to launch an attack against Iran.
Moreover, there is not a single person who did not consider this to actually be the last resort.”
Barak admitted that Israel “has the operational ability and international legitimacy to attack Iran,” and that “if we don’t do it, it will no longer be possible.”
“I think the government is missing opportunities and trying to have its cake and eat it, too. Following the historic opportunity that came our way against the backdrop of what happened with Iran and the outbreak of terrorism, a unity of interests has been formed between us and the moderate Muslim countries.
“That interest is to effectively fight radical Islamic terrorism and to push Iran and its nuclear intentions into the corner,” he said.
Barak further claimed that Netanyahu uses Iran to distract from a bigger issue – the stalled state of peace negotiations.
“I assessed in the past that Netanyahu and [Defense Minister Avigdor] Liberman can be convinced to forge ahead on the Palestinian subject so that if we must act against Iran we could do it under much better conditions but I did not succeed.”
“In retrospect,” he continued, “it raises questions about the whole system of [thinking behind Netanyahu’s] considerations: Was it just the Iranian issue or was it an attempt to postpone the moment of truth about the Palestinian issue?”
Barak continued, saying the government was being “hijacked by the extreme Right” and that its “one-state agenda” was jeopardizing the State of Israel. “This risk is bigger than the external risks around us,” he warned. “Israel could become an apartheid state that would not only be steeped in violence but would also constantly have the threat of collapse looming over it.”
Nevertheless, he did not rule out the possibility of establishing peace in the region.
“We still haven’t tried to obtain peace in such conditions where we have the Arab world with its interests. We don’t have the defense [capacities] and moral authority to do that, but Israel will have great achievements by merely entering such a process,” he predicted.