A sad farewell
As a logical man, Defense Minister Ehud Barak analyzed his political situation and came to this clear conclusion: If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing and able to appoint him to be his defense minister after the coming elections, he will do so. It will happen even if Barak, Netanyahu's partner over the last four years, remains solitary, without a party in the Knesset. If Netanyahu is not willing, or is unable, even a party with five seats or even six will not change things, and Barak will not be defense minister.
At the age of 70, vibrant, fresh and curious, Barak has no desire to occupy a seat in the 19th Knesset. If he ran for office at the helm of his Independence party he would not be able to quit mid-term just for being kept out of the Defense Ministry.
In this regard, he is very lucky. Unlike the overwhelming majority of MKs and ministers throughout history, Barak has a full life outside politics, mainly thanks to his profound curiosity. He is well known as an amateur pianist who specializes in complicated high scales. Those in the know will tell you that more than anything else, he occupies himself with studying new things. On his plate at the moment are physics, mathematics and philosophy. He is also quite decadent, and since he has done fairly well for himself, he is able to afford frequent trips abroad.
Luckily for him, he was able to make this decision at a relatively comfortable junction in his political life. After being persecuted by political rivals and a partially hostile media for ages, things were beginning to turn around for him. He had begun to be regarded as a responsible adult. The partnership between him and Netanyahu, which had one very public clash, is nonetheless viewed as an unprecedented asset to the government. With the polls clearly indicating that his party would clear the threshold required to enter the Knesset (which wasn't always the case), he was able to resign with a sigh of relief and his dignity intact.
Barak is a unique individual. His shortcomings are painful, but his contribution is great. He is emotionally obtuse, but his wisdom is unparalleled. The five and a half years he spent at the head of the Defense Ministry were characterized by long-term policy management. He knew that allocating budgets to the development of weapons of the future in the air, the sea, and the intelligence arena would not bear fruit during his term. He will not be the one who ultimately enjoys the public's gratitude. But through his ties with the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, he raised a lot of money to ensure Israel's military superiority.
Barak looks reality in the eye. The Left has never forgiven him for arriving at the logical conclusion based on Yasser Arafat's and Mahmoud Abbas' behavior at Camp David that there was "no partner" for peace with the Palestinians. Not because it wasn't true, but because such a conclusion did not coincide with the Left's platform. And the Right never liked his tendency to provide more than a sympathetic ear to Obama and wanted to believe that he was responsible for the evacuations of Jewish settlements built on private Palestinian lands. The next Migron may very well have to be evacuated by a Likud minister.
At the most basic level, Barak is the one element that can be used to compare Netanyahu's term to his predecessor Ehud Olmert's term. Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9 was overseen by Olmert, Barak and then IDF Chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. The recent Operation Pillar of Defense was led by Netanyahu, Barak and current IDF Lt. Gen. Chief Benny Gantz. With his resignation, Barak can offer the public a "spot the differences" puzzle, like the ones found in the children's section of every paper.
Army Radio personality Razi Barkai said Monday that Barak's resignation elicited the same twinge he had felt when he learned that former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan was dying. I also felt that twinge. There are many parallels between these two unique men.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו