Barak says Netanyahu giving in to pressure from far right

TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF

Former Israeli prime minister says Likud party has been ‘taken over’ by settler movement

Former prime minister Ehud Barak attends a press conference organized by the Israeli Labor party, in Tel Aviv, January 29, 2017. (FLASH90)

Former prime minister Ehud Barak charged Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being heavily pressured by the extreme right in terms of state affairs and policy, adding that the Likud party had been “taken over” by the settler movement.
“I do not like the Netanyahu’s changing discourse,” Barak said during an event in Tel Aviv, according to the Walla news site.
“In recent years he has been in a state of mind that is rooted in his parents [beliefs] and has been exacerbated by the fact that the settler-aligned right has taken over the Likud.”

Barak further asserted that the prime minister’s disposition was holding him back from handling the country’s affairs properly.

“[Netanyahu] is pessimistic, passive, very anxious and feels like a victim. Because you are not doing anything to prevent them,” the ex-Israeli leader said.

“This is not a good recipe for strategic decisions, and leads to paralysis, and to pessimistic prophecies that validate themselves because nothing is done to prevent them,” Barak concluded.

Last month, Barak reportedly agreed to an initiative that would have seen him contend for the leadership of the Labor Party, but the plan fell through when other candidates refused his demand that they drop out of the race.

Barak’s reported interest in the leadership of the Labor Party comes despite a number of recent denials by the former prime minister that he was weighing a return to politics, including in January when he said he had no plans return to political life or challenge Netanyahu for the premiership.

Over the past year, the freshly bearded 75-year-old former politician has become an outspoken critic of Netanyahu, with his diatribes against the prime minister and his governing coalition on Twitter and television prompting speculation that Barak was preparing to throw his hat in the ring.

Barak was the IDF’s longest-serving chief of staff and the country’s most decorated soldier, before becoming prime minister in 1999 after defeating Netanyahu in elections.

Following his defeat in 2001 to the late Ariel Sharon, Barak temporarily retired from politics, but returned to the Labor Party in 2005. From 2007 to 2013 he served as defense minister, the last four years of which Netanyahu was prime minister.

In 2011 he split from Labor along with four other MKs, forming the short-lived Independence Party in order to remain in Netanyahu’s coalition despite the objection of most of Labor. The party was effectively disbanded upon Barak’s retirement from politics in 2013.