Israeli Left slams Barak over comments
AFTER Defense Minister and Labour Party Chairman Ehud Barak on Monday accused the Left of behaving like children during a weekly faction meeting, former Meretz Chairwoman Shulamit Aloni said, "Barak is the most dangerous person in Israel today."
ATTILA SOMFALVI
JERUSALEM – After Defense Minister and Labour Party Chairman Ehud Barak on Monday accused the Left of behaving like children during a weekly faction meeting, former Meretz Chairwoman Shulamit Aloni said, “Barak is the most dangerous person in Israel today.”
Speaking with Ynet, Aloni added, “The Left, as a small child, wants peace, and the defence minister, as an experienced big boy wants war, and in this capacity he is doing it and wasting money to that end.
“Anyone that heads the Labour Party and speaks out against the Israeli Left is stating that he wishes to destroy, and in fact has systematically destroyed the Labour Party. Today, Barak is more Right than Bibi (Netanyahu). The Israeli Left exists, but is not organized. A completely different public awakening is needed. I believe Barak is the most dangerous man in Israel today,” she said.
Tying the issue in to the storm that was caused by the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and the subsequent calls for an internal probe of the operation, Aloni said, “He should have treated the international representatives with more respect and listened to what they have to say. He was foolish not to take part in the Goldstone Commission — the issue of a deeper examination would not have risen had he done so.”
At a Labor faction meeting earlier Monday, Barak said, “The Left is acting like a small child, that says, ‘I want peace’. This is the difference between a child and an adult. The child says: I want candy here and now, and the adult must understand the entirety of the considerations and understand who is on the other side.”
MK Eitan Cabel, one of the faction’s four “rebels” said following Barak’s comments that “he represents Likud’s traditional stance even more convincingly than Netanyahu. The man’s opinions are completely foreign to the Labour Party, to the stance and values of its voters.”
Cabel urged his faction members to join the internal opposition against Barak, as did MK Yuli Tamir: “Barak’s words prove that today he is even more Right than Netanyahu. (Faction members) Herzog, Ben-Simon, Yacimovich, and Braverman cannot sit on the fence, they must decide if they are joining the Right’s policies or are fighting for their path. This is the moment to decide, because if no decision is made, the results will be devastating.”
Current Meretz Chairman MK Chaim Oron said, “The renewal of the peace process is a strategic interest for the State of Israel and not some childish whim, and the false pretense that there is no one to talk to and nothing to discuss has turned the Labour Party under Barak into a Netanyahu choir.”
YNET
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