The Likud party on Friday sharply attacked former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who hinted earlier this week that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had caused serious damage to Israel’s security.
“Barak is the most incompetent Prime Minister in Israel's history, in whose name are registered, among others, the Second Intifada, the abandoning of Medhat Youssef, the lynching in Ramallah and the hasty withdrawal from Lebanon which led to the takeover of Iran and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and to the firing of thousands of missiles towards Israeli cities,” said the Likud in a statement.
“His pathetic attempts to return to the political arena through baseless and irresponsible attacks on Prime Minister Netanyahu are bordering on anarchy. It would be better if Barak, who lost the people's trust in a record time of just one year in office, will cease to preach to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who wins the public's trust again and again,” the party added.
Earlier this week Barak, speaking at a conference of the leftist Darkenu organization (the new name for the organization previously known as V15 which worked against Netanyahu and the Likud in the last election), claimed Netanyahu was responsible for a "series of incidents" that occurred in recent months and that harmed Israel's security.
As an example, Barak brought up what he said was Netanyahu's “mistaken judgment” and his rocky relations with U.S. President Barack Obama. He noted, however, that he could give no further details as to the incident because of its sensitivity.
Following the comments, MKs demanded that the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman convene an emergency meeting of its intelligence subcommittee and to summon Barak to appear before it so that he can explain his comments.
Senior officials from Netanyahu’s office told Haaretz on Thursday that they don’t know which "security incident" Barak was referring to.
"We examined the issue. There's no such thing. Period," his bureau added.
(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.)