Danny Danon
Danny DanonFlash 90

MK Danny Danon harshly criticized Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday night, after Barak attacked members of the Likud in a television interview.

“The Defense Minister is suffering from false visions and hallucinations and continues to use his position to try to pass the electoral threshold,” charged Danon, adding, “Barak is an extinct political species and it is time that he put his narrow political interests aside and think of the good of the State of Israel.”

Danon said that he has turned to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and asked that he fire Barak immediately and appoint another defense minister to serve for three months until the upcoming elections.

He added that Barak’s dismissal would prevent further harm to the State of Israel just so Barak can pass the threshold. Danon pointed that in the past year, Barak has been running a campaign at the expense of Israeli citizens and has been making decisions according to his political needs, without concern for national interests.

“Irresponsible statements on Iran, thoughtless harming of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria, attempting to upgrade his status by undermining the Prime Minister in the relations with the U.S., and now hallucinatory statements against the Likud party. These are all symptoms of the political corpse of a person who once headed the government and now heads only himself,” said Danon.

Danon’s harsh criticism was a response to comments Barak made after he was criticized by Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon.

Yaalon accused Barak of preferring his own political fortune over Israel's security in the matter of Iran.

Speaking at a public panel in Ramat Hen, the former IDF chief of staff said: "The Prime Minister thought that the defense minister was with him all the way on the subject of Iran, and in the end, the defense minister put the state of Israel on the tree, then made a last minute escape and went on to present himself as a moderate."

Barak later responded to Yaalon's accusations by saying that Yaalon "has contracted 'primaritis' – a disease that strikes members of Likud before the primaries."

The condition "brings him to utter pathetic statements, and that is too bad," said Barak. "He is pandering to Likud members."

Relations between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Barak have been tense recently. Netanyahu claimed that Barak is trying to spark conflict between Israel and the United States.

During a meeting between the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Netanyahu revealed signs of mistrust and conflict between himself and his defense minister, saying Barak went to the U.S. to stir up trouble, with intentions of returning to Israel as the hero who stood up to Obama and the rest of Washington.

Netanyahu's associates later accused Barak of not coordinating with Netanyahu a meeting he held with Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, a close associate of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Barak's office claimed that the meeting, which took place when Barak was on a working visit in the United States, was approved by the Prime Minister and was not kept from him.

More and more members of the Knesset have been calling for Barak to be ousted for his recent behavior.