Israel is heading in the wrong direction, and is drawing closer to a civil war, former Mossad Director Tamir Pardo warned Tuesday, addressing social divides in the country. Pardo spoke on Tuesday at an event in the Druze village Daliyat al-Karmel, ahead of Bishvil Habanim ("on the sons' path"), an annual run-walk event held to commemorate fallen IDF soldiers from the Druze community. Retired brigadier generals Ram Shmueli and Amal Asad also took part in the event. Touching on the strife among various sectors in Israeli society, Pardo said that "the internal threat is greater than the threat from outside. If internal divisions in a society surpass a certain point, any extreme scenario could lead to division and even to a civil war. I'm concerned that Israeli society is closing in on a scenario like that, and we are heading in the wrong direction." The former Mossad chief stressed that he was not placing the blame for societal polarization on any one person. "I can't point to a specific leader or group who is responsible for the situation. Polarization and division exist in every ethnic group in Israel and at the end of the day, what unites us is greater than what divides us. Still there are those for whom it's convenient to underscore what separates them from our society," Pardo explained. When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Pardo said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was right in supporting a two-state solution. According to Pardo, "At the end of the day, a Palestinian state will be established between the [Mediterranean] sea and the [Jordan] river, and I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu is right in talking about a vision of two states." "Agreements are signed between governments, but upheld between peoples. I don't believe that we will be able to reach any agreement with any [Arab] country beyond what we have today unless we solve the Palestinian issue," Pardo said. Pardo also discussed the comparison Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman made between the Iran nuclear deal and the Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany. "Israel isn't facing any existential threat, and we can't compare apples to oranges. It's neither accurate nor right to compare what took place in the 1930s to what is happening today. History isn't repeating itself, and any comparison of those parameters will be imprecise, to say the least," Pardo said. MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Union) said in response to Pardo's remarks that "the former Mossad head is breaking his silence and exposing, like his predecessors in the Shin Bet security agency and the Mossad, that the dangers from home are more serious than the threats from outside."
Former Mossad chief warns social rifts may drive Israel to 'civil war'
Tamir Pardo says Israeli society is "heading in the wrong direction," warns "internal threat is greater than the threat from outside" as some prefer to stress what divides, rather than unites • On Iran deal he says: Israel not facing existential threat.
Load more...