call for an internal debate.Invite public input regarding your concerns and allow an open debate with your citizens perhaps. To address the Knesset yes and distribute an internal paper of concerns yes do it. To address concerns and crucial diferences of opinion for further debate of politicians and public perhaps To initiate an international debate with ambassadors would not be appropriate especially if an internal debate has not been held. With respect to initiate external/international debate and pressure does seem to be called and this acn dangerous in itself.

Eitan Haber: Yes, Peres helped to build Israel. Peres' contribution is well known; especially his establishment of the Dimona facility. All of Mr. Peres past achievements occured AFTER he was elected bu the Israeli people. Appointement as President of Israel is something else. The President in Israel does NOT reflect the will of the Israeli people...the President has NO mandate to define Israeli policy. Mr. Peres would be correct and wise if he allowed the elected PM. and the Knesset to stumble or to succeed without his interference. moshe

by shaking the terrorist Arafats hand than Netanyahu has in all his years as PM. But because he can't face the fact that the Oslo agreement was a disaster that resulted in the murder of Rabin, Mr. Peres feels he has to pin the blame on the "current government's policy". He should be patting little children on the head only and keeping his mouth shut about Israeli policy. Shaking hands with terrorists while believing he is making "peace" has resulted in nothing but more terror against Israel.

He might be bursting with anger, however, his emotions are of nobody concerns but his own. When you take a ceremonial, non-political, position you are bound by the conventions of the office. If you think your personal beliefs are in conflict with the requirement of the Office - you have a choice - - you can resign and speak your mind. Peres is not a slave, he can resign at any time he want , he is well aware of the conventions relating to the Office. The fact that he thinks his views are above the Office and gets angry when it is not appropriate - is a problem which needs to be put back to him. He is not a whistlerblower - he is simply a spoilt brat who holds himself in higher esteem and belief that he is not bound by what other people would be bound by.

Israel is still trying to recover from Peres's cooked up fraudulent disaster resulting in the death and maiming of thousands of israelies. The empowerment of the terrorists, the return of arafat and his fellow murderers to the land of Israel. I think its called OSLO.

Have you ever been to Israel? Shimon Peres is one of the most respected statesmen in the world and if he can speak in the name of Israel (the country he would give his life for) - why not??

The president is not the president of the people, they have no say in his election. He is a representative of the Knesset who appointed him. he may know Abu Mazen for 30 years, but that does not mean that Abu Mazen is pro-peace. Remember that Abu Mazen's status ran out about 4 years ago.

Eitan Haber you are so wrong. Yes it is Peres' opinion but there are many of us who will disagree with him. In other words what he is saying is his political opinion in which case he is not my President, is that what you are saying President of some and not others ??By the way many of us still think he betrayed us with Oslo

Peres is aiming his rhetoric at the wrong group. 4 years after PM Olmert made the last Israeli offer to Abbas has shown that Abbas not only can not make a deal but has a vested interest in staying away from negotiations. Each time he makes an attempt at anything like a positive message towards peace his life is threatened by his electorate or Hamas. He can not visit or speak for half of his "country" and his term of office expired years ago. How is this a peace partner?

peres ever the fool was NEVER elected to any position by the voting populations. He was appointed but never elected. This elder statesmen throughout the world is known as anything but here, in his own country. Which is the reason he was NEVER elected to any position! The man is senile and even when he wasn't he was simply a fool but useful to the enemy at all times....

When a future president says something that you do not agree with.

peres is one of those whome we ahve to 'thank' for the catastrophe that is Oslo.Everything - the damage, the negative aspects and the Palis' belief in their own lies - stems from then.

I said before, the man at 90 is senile, unsafe beyond being a figurehead Poor judgement , not based on reason, concerning Better Place, shows him past his sell by date for serious office Decent old man, stick to hanging Mezzuzas onto new doorposts.

rabin stupidly followed peres on oslo which was a deadly mistake. Begin rejected peres advice on osiraq thankfully-peres was wrong. Remember lebanon and shelling on kana from which peres ran like a rabbit taking barak with him. Hezbollah correctly guaged israel's thin staying power with peres and all of his followers like haber who cries when egypt blusters. as for the moslem brotherhood threats that israel will cease to exist in 10 years, if israel does cease to exist, then this is a guarantee that egypt will cease to exist and israel has the means to do it and it will if egypt is behind it. You want wipe out, israel will wipe you out completely so watch your mouths. peres is an appointee and has no right to make policy. Israelis did not vote for him as they did not vote for you.

Peres has the right to speak out the same way as all the citizens. He is smarter and has more wisdom than Bibi. He has done so much for the country that he deserves respect and recogition. yes he is right the settlers are leading Israel against the wall.

The benign forces of the Middle East are offering us peace, in between murdering and torturing each other and calling for our genocide, and it's only the Likud that wrecks everything. Blah, blah. You people are going to lose big on January 22, Haber. The Israeli public has wised up and doesn't buy the lefty snake oil anymore.

it's clear that mr haber agrees with shimon peres' politics, and that is the only reason for this stupid piece of political partisanship. the role of the president is NOT to publicly meddle in the affairs of government or to use his/her unelected office to attack the elected government of the day. the president can and should express such concerns privately, rather than embarrassing the government. shimon peres seems unable to resist the temptation to meddle, and unable to rise above the political. as such, he is a lousy president. both he and haber are expressing the last gasps of the left wing, which is dying in israel. but soiling the status of the presidency isn't going to change that reality.

Being president isn't some God given right for Shimon Peres that he can use anyway he pleases. If he wants to make political statements he is free to do so as a private citizen, but not when he is holding what must be an apolitical office. When Ruby Rivlin is president should he speak about how Jews must stay in Hebron and Alon Moreh before the Left realizes that there needs to be some respect for dissenting views. He is abusing the office he holds.

accelerate his bursting speed

Israel's President is a ceremonial position. If Shimon Peres wants to impact Israel's foreign policy he should run for the Knesset. But he will not run becuase his aging 'give-away-the-store' views have been rejected by the majority of his countryman. That's what's wrong with him speaking out. Imagine the Queen of England - another ceremonial job - speaking against the views of her country's elected government. It would not be tolerated. Peres either needs to be quiet on policy or quit and speak-out like any citizen can - or run for office. He can not have it both ways.

Some may disagree with Peres with some of his actions over the years, but over all he is the last Israeli icon who really belive in Israel and wants its safety. Peres is pragmatic and the clock is not ticking in our favor. At the end of the day, what he is saying openly is what the vast majority of Israeli politician know and know it will happen. Peace is a must and time is running out. All those that are banging against Peres are simply narrow minded idiots.

has tohe right to make his concerns known. If the Government of Israel chooses to ignore those concerns then The President has the right to make those concerns public. Otherswise a statesman like Peres who has served Israel for as long as it has existed can be silenced by the government. Which is not democracy, it is totalitarianism which might have been acceptable in Soviet Russia, but has no role in Israel

" Op-ed: President has every right to speak up if he believes government leading Israel to disaster " The fact that Netanyahu does not tend the left cheek according to the world is a disaster to the eyes of the writer.... a disaster ! And what about the " peace's sacrifices " of Peres ?!

They, who ever decided to replace the previous Sepharadic President by an Ashkenaze one, choose one whose political DNA was well known , especially with his now historic archivic histerics with the late Rabin for the PM spot, ought to know better......they had a better choices. But, peres, has arrived and as his usual self wants to run the whole house including the kitchen (golda meir's parlance). peres should have the decency to follow the accepted tradition in all other Democratic Nations with a representative Presidency, that anything is said Ex-Caditra, which means that you never intervine publicly with the management of the current Government. So peres is always ourside of the realm of any tradtion, so he should be criticised just for that (though they are so many other things that only historian will write about in future).

As a matter of fact, I proudly wore the IDF uniform, something Shimon Peres NEVER did, as did my 2 sons and my daughter does now. While Peres was kissing Arafats a$$, every 2 weeks was another terrorist attack against Israel, Rabin in his drunken haze kept threatening Arafat, who kept making promises that he never kept. Peres, meanwhile, was waiting for the day when HE would be Prime Minister, and we know what the result of that was. Shimon Peres would NEVER give his life for Israel, all he fought for was his communist ideals and false peace treaties with terrorists to earn him useless prizes (Nobel peace prize) for his own uselessness.