Netanyahu doesn’t want me as Labor leader, Barak says
Former prime minister says Likud leader would prefer to run against any other Labor chairmanship candidate; ‘IDF withdrawal from Lebanon under my leadership in 2000 ended 15-year tragedy,’ he adds
“(Likud chairman) Benjamin Netanyahu would prefer to run against any Labor chairmanship candidate other than myself,” former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday.
Barak, who said earlier that he would be willing to sit with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the same government, met with several dozen Labor supporters at Kibbutz Sdot Yam.
“Labor must choose someone who can beat Netanyahu in the elections and who is experienced in matters of the state and security,” Barak said.
“I bring with me a bit more baggage in these fields, and am therefore asking you for your trust.”
The former prime minister added that if Labor would continue to be viewed as a leftist party “we would be very pleased with ourselves, but we would not win.
“If you ask Bibi which Labor candidate he would rather face, he would definitely not say Barak.”
'Withdrawal ended a 15-year tragedy'
The former prime minister did not make due with slamming his rivals within the party and leveled criticism at the government as well.
“I would expect the government to have one plan of action, not three or four,” he said. “One person supports the Saudi peace initiative without understanding its meaning, while another backs the Hong Kong plan, without knowing whether or not it could be implemented within the next 10 years.
“Israel cannot get dragged into international initiatives without putting a plan of its own on the table,” Barak said.
Barak then praised the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, which was conducted under his leadership.
“It was not entirely unilateral, because it was carried out in accordance with agreements we had reached with the United Nations,” he said.
“The fact that we withdrew to the border gives us the legitimacy to act. This withdrawal ended a 15-year tragedy, and the security zone didn’t really protect the northern communities.
According to the Labor chairmanship candidate, the pace of Hizbullah’s advancement was at its slowest following the army’s withdrawal from Lebanon, “except for the bunkers that they built.”
“Now, over the past year, they are developing at the fastest pace ever,” he said. “After the withdrawal Hizbullah members sat with their rifles under parasols; with the adequate preparation, the IDF could have crushed 2,000 of them.”
