Columnist Menachem Benn of Maariv attacked Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a scathing weekend column, following Barak's decision to cut off the Har Bracha yeshiva from the Hesder arrangemen with the Defense Ministry.
"After he destroyed his party and left it bleeding hatred and divided, Ehud Barak is more than ready to destroy the country, too, if we only let him,” Benn wrote. “He is already dividing the IDF and pitting its finest knit-kippah combat soldiers against it. He is already traveling to Turkey... and trying to convince us, against the will of the Foreign Minister who is trying to block the move, that the anti-Semitic Erdogan can be an excellent broker between us and Syria.”
"Barak is also maneuvering the Prime Minister of Israel, after long talks with Obama and Mitchell, into a damaging and grave partial freeze, which Netanyahu never wanted from the outset, and promises to give Abu Mazen at least what he already gave Arafat: agreement to a near-full withdrawal from all of Judea and Samaria and full territorial repayment inside tiny Israel, in accordance with the terrible formula offered by Olmert, who was willing to sell everything in order to be liked by the Left, in the hope that he would be 'etrogized' as Sharon was etrogized.”
In Jewish tradition, an etrog is a citron fruit which is kept wrapped and stored in a special box throughout the Sukkot holiday. The term has recently also come to denote a politician who enjoys special treatment from the media and law enforcement establishment, because he is carrying out policies that are to their liking.
'Etrogization'
Barak desperately needs “etrog” status now, Benn states. “We shall remember the PR firm established by his wife after he was already appointed Defense Minister, promising all sorts of millionaires to utilize all sorts of connections for them. We will remember the State Comptroller's investigation about sums in millions that were transferred within his family, after he was appointed Defense Minister. We shall remember the luxurious hotel in Paris. We shall remember his illegal Philippine housemaid.”
"How is it that he never bothered to ask his wife and find out if the Filipina was legal or not? How could he not understand that there was something wrong with his wife's PR firm, when she promised to make use of connections with the world's rich and powerful people? And why does his party hate him so much? Can this person be trusted with all of the diplomatic and security matters? This is a man who now wants to rob the public of its right to determine, through referendum, if it should – G-d forbid – retreat from the Golan. Barak, being Barak, expects us to trust his judgment, without bothering to keep us in the loop. After all, this is the man who was about to sell Arafat everything, without asking anyone, at a time when it had become completely clear that the nation would boot him from office. Barak is a danger to himself and trips himself up all the time, but this is something we can live with. The problem is that he trips up Israel as well.”