Likud blasts ex-PM Ehud Barak as 'biggest failure' in Israel's history

The Likud party blasted former Prime Minister Ehud Barak Friday for his recent statements alleging that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu caused strategic damage to Israel by agreeing to a "reckless" defense aid deal with the U.S.

"Ehud Barak is the biggest failure of a prime minister in the history of the State of Israel," the Likud party said in a statement. "He is responsible for the Second Intifada, the abandonment of Sgt. Madhat Yusuf [a Border Police soldier who died in Nablus in October 2000 before a rescue operation was ordered], the lynching in Ramallah and the rushed withdrawal from Lebanon, which led to Iran and Hezbollah's takeover of southern Lebanon and the consequent launch of thousands of rockets at Israeli cities from the area."

The Likud party blasted Barak's "pathetic attempts to return to the political arena through baseless and irresponsible attacks on Prime Minister Netanyahu that border on the obscene. It would be best if the same Barak who lost the trust of the people in record time after about a year in office would stop lecturing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who consistently earns the public's trust."

Last week, speaking at a conference, Barak asserted that "soon, when the agreement on U.S. defense aid for the next decade is signed, everyone will see the damage caused by Netanyahu's reckless gamble in the way he managed relations with the White House. Instead of getting 4.5 billion shekels annually, as was expected, and practical, a year ago -- immediately after the agreement in Vienna -- Israel will only get 3.8 billion, and that, too, will be contingent on Israel not asking for any supplementation from Congress. Important projects will be frozen or canceled, and thousands in the defense industry will lose their jobs."

"The agreement is bad, and signing it is a terrible mistake," Barak alleged.

Meanwhile, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Avi Dichter (Likud) said Saturday that Barak declined his offer to discuss the possibility of inviting him to clarify his remarks before the committee members.

Dichter said, "I called Barak on my own initiative and asked to meet so I could make a decision based on the details and information he would provide. Unfortunately, Barak declined my request for a meeting and dismissed the idea altogether.

"In the event that Mr. Barak will wish to meet with the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and shift the discussion to more relevant tracks than the newspaper headlines, my invitation stands," Dichter added.

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