While in the United States for example, after one serves as president, one establishes a library, goes on speaking tours, writes an autobiography, or simply retires; but in Israel, former prime ministers have and continue returning to Knesset, trying to reenter the political arena. This appears to be the case with former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is increasing his public appearances and media interviews, signaling he is giving serious consideration to trying to make a comeback for 2019 Knesset elections. Amazingly, the 76-year-old former national leader, defense minister and IDF chief of staff, simply does not want to retire, apparently yearning to be in the limelight one last time.

With the election campaign already on the horizon, the tone in the political system and its surroundings continues to worsen. Ehud Barak slammed Prime Minister Netanyahu in a published statement: “Netanyahu’s moral collapse engenders laws whose sole purpose is to help the prime minister escape the bribery, fraud and breach of trust he is suspected of,” Barak said during an interview at an event held in Tel Aviv.

Barak added, “The law to block police recommendations, and the law to prevent publication of the reasons for closing files, the French law and the tax relief law are all ugly disfigurements sewn with rough stitches of the principle of equality before the law.”

He added, “this is an expression of a moral deterioration that is no longer concerned with the welfare of the citizens, but rather by worshiping a seemingly corrupt leader. Our story reminds us of Yelena and Nikolai Ceausescu more than the exemplary society and the light to the nations, and where we will lead the shame. The citizens who brought Netanyahu to power will bring him down from a regime that humiliates the people and the citizens and bring an end to this disgrace.”

For those unfamiliar, Romanian dictator Nikolai Ceausescu was executed along with his wife in a revolution in Romania in 1989. Ceausescu lived a lavish life and created a cult of personality around him and his family. His comparison to Netanyahu, especially in the context of his end, is disturbing, to say the least.

The Likud responded in response to Barak’s remarks: “From day to day, Ehud Barak turns out to be an eccentric and delusional person, and his remarks against Prime Minister Netanyahu are incitement to murder, and Barak has simply lost it.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)