Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Friday called on all parties that oppose being part of a coalition with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to unite in order to defeat him in the next election.
Speaking with Channel 12 News, Barak also commented on Gideon Sa’ar’s move to quit the Likud and establish a new party, noting that this is an important development.
"This is a blow to Netanyahu. For the first time, someone from the Likud stands up and dismantles the monolithic support for him. He says what everyone has been saying for a year, that this is a failure in management and leadership, that this is a person who just wants to evade trial, that this is a Likud that no one knew," said Barak.
"This is a good development that brings the end of Netanyahu's term closer, but at the same time Sa’ar is not the dream of most of the country. He has extreme right-wing positions, and most of the public is not there. Netanyahu's time has passed and he needs to vacate his seat so as not to get the country into more trouble. We need a government that is not headed by a person accused of bribery," he continued.
Barak called on the bloc that is against Netanyahu to unite and overcome their disagreements for the purpose of the common goal.
"I call for real unification on the other side of the map - from Liberman through Gantz, through Yair Lapid, through Yair Golan and Horowitz, we need one arc that will do well if it unites before the election. Israel needs a restart of young people, women, the energies of the protests are an excellent backbone," said the former Prime Minister.
The Likud said in response, "While Prime Minister Netanyahu is bringing millions of vaccines and historic peace agreements for the benefit of all Israeli citizens, it would be better if Ehud Barak does not interfere and certainly does not preach morality to us."
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)