According to Barak, “This government is not capable of making decisions opposite Hamas, the Syrians, Lebanon, Iran and the United States. The primaries are lingering in the shadows and people are beside themselves. All the cabinet deliberations are for the media.”

Barak spoke with the Labor party branch secretaries in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood. Concerning the state of tension in the south he said that “ultimately, a Gaza operation is inevitable, but a responsible leadership needs to give a ceasefire a chance,” he added.

In contrast to the leaders before him,Barak attacked the way in which the Second Lebanon War was conducted: “The government reached decisions and received a round of applause; but it also defined impossible objectives for the military.

"This administration remained intact only because the public wasn’t up to (replacing) it.”

Sources close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response that Barak is “borderline impertinent…he was the one urging for Kadima primaries. He has no right to talk about a link between the ceasefire and primaries."

"Barak is responsible for the impossible situation in southern Israel," said Kadima's MK Isaac Ben-Israel. "He will not be able to hide his failure in the matter."