Unsure. Barak
Photo: AP
Avigdor Lieberman
Photo: Guy Assayag
Barak 'uncomfortable' in new government
Labor chief tells fellow party members still unsure whether decision to join Netanyahu coalition was correct, says will try to encourage government to take steps 'that contradict Lieberman's statements'. Tamir: Deep ideological crisis in Labor
"I don’t feel as though I am a natural part of this government; on the contrary, I feel like I'm offsetting it so that our path and vision will be expressed in Israel's policies," Labor Chairman Ehud Barak said Sunday evening during a Pesach toast.
The defense minister told an audience comprised mostly of members of the dovish United Kibbutz Movement, that "despite the fact that I supported the party's participation in (Benjamin Netanyahu's) government, I admit that I am still uncertain whether it was the right move or not. But I feel it was the responsible thing to do for the good of the country."
Barak said Labor's biggest achievement will be to encourage the Netanyahu government into taking steps that "contradict (Foreign Minister Avigdor) Lieberman's statements and are more in tune with our positions."
Knesset Member Yuli Tamir, the former education minister, criticized her chairman, saying "there is a deep ideological crisis (in Labor), and I am not at all certain Barak still supports a two-state solution."
Earlier Sunday, Barak met with a US senators and congressmen who arrived in Israel for a series of discussions regarding Israel's security needs.
"Despite the economic crisis in the US, we are trying to maintain their financial support for our defense projects," the defense minister said during the Labor event.
