Ehud Barak
Ehud BarakFlash 90

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday fired back at Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein after Edelstein criticized Barak at the Herzliya Conference.

"The Knesset Speaker continues to serve as the operations officer to rescue the suspect from Balfour (a reference to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu -ed). Not the interests of the state or its preservation as a Jewish and democratic state stand before his eyes, but rather a shady deal that might bring him to the President's Residence. Loss of statesmanship? We have to make sure it does not happen," Barak wrote on Twitter.

His comments came after Edelstein had said of the former Prime Minister, "Ehud Barak is the most defeated and failed Prime Minister that the State of Israel has ever had."

"He wants us to return to the concept of concessions - that's how we reached the Second Intifada. What do they want? To make more concessions and reach a third intifada? I hope he does not pass the electoral threshold,” added the Knesset Speaker.

On his initiative to cancel the elections, Edelstein said, "The cancellation has not yet been implemented, and it is no coincidence that you have not seen inflammatory messages from either side. My assessment that if we cannot implement my initiative, after September 17 it will be exactly the same players sitting around the same table and having to talk about the issues they are currently refusing to talk about. It would be better for our country and the public as a whole to agree on things now and save three redundant months as well as billions of shekels. At least I will be able look at myself in the mirror after September 17 and know I've tried."

"I have not lost hope yet, because sometimes common sense also has to work. After all, who can guarantee us that there will be no elections for the third time?" Edelstein said.