According to local press, the Israeli leadership has been “climbing down from the tree” this week with a distinct change in tone from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding attacking Iran. The change in mood is said to be linked to rising tensions with the Obama administration and new rumors that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has changed his mind and is no longer supporting a unilateral attack by Israel.
Ehud Barak
The rift in Israel between the political leadership’s push for an attack on Iran, and the security establishment’s opposition widened in recent weeks. Three new voices spoke out on the question of Iran in the Israeli press, throwing doubt into the motivation of those who push for an attack, namely Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Lia Tarachansky spoke to Ha’aretz journalist Gideon Levy and Major General Shlomo Gazit, the former head of Army intelligence.
Jonathan Cook: Welcome to the world’s first bunker state
18 January 2012
The new infiltration law is the latest in a set of policies fortifying Israel’s status as the world’s first “bunker state”- and one designed to be as ethnically pure as possible. The concept was expressed most famously by an earlier prime minister, Ehud Barak, now the defense minister, who called Israel “a villa in the jungle,” relegating the country’s neighbours to the status of wild animals.
Lia Tarachansky: Israel divided over plan to attack Iran
1 December 2011
A split has developed between Israeli security establishment and Netanyahu. November saw endless speculation about a potential Israeli attack on Iran. At the end of October an Israeli journalist published at article revealing that, against the advice of all Israeli security and intelligence agency heads, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak were deliberating attacking Iran. Perhaps as early as this winter.
Jonathan Cook: Striking Iran – Israel’s war wager
12 November 2011
Former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh on the danger of an Iranian bomb: “Most Israelis would prefer not to live here; most Jews would prefer not to come here with families, and Israelis who can live abroad will… I am afraid Ahmadinejad will be able to kill the Zionist dream without pushing a button. That’s why we must prevent this regime from obtaining nuclear capability at all costs.”
Barak: IDF soldiers may be called into Lebanon in the future
15 February 2011
During tour with new IDF chief along northern border, the defense minister said Israel taught Hezbollah a lesson during the Second Lebanon War, but it could soon be forgotten.
IOA Editor: Be Prepared – Israel is always ready for the next attack.
Jonathan Cook: Zionist left writes its own obituary
18 January 2011
[Labor's] demise, however, should not be lamented. It has been in terminal decline for decades. What its disappearance may do is free up the political landscape for a real left to emerge in Israel, one less tied to the onerous legacy of Labor Zionism and prepared to collaborate creatively with the Palestinian national movements. That is an outcome not considered in Netanyahu’s scheming.
IOA: Netanyahu, Barak; Barak, Netanyahu – the more things change, the more they stay the same
17 January 2011
IOA Editor: As we said on these pages a few days ago, History doesn’t repeat itself, it simply continues…
In the final analysis, whether Barak stays in the Netanyahu government as the head of Labor, or as the head of a newly-created “Independent” section, or altogether retires from politics matters not. With Barak or without him, with Labor or without it, with Kadima or without it, the Israeli government — whether Netanyahu’s, Barak’s, Livni’s, or others’ — will continue its mission full force: the colonization of Palestine and the slow replacement of one people by another…
Anyone who has visited the West Bank in recent months has been greeted by the din of mountain-moving bulldozers and jackhammers, alongside giant foundation drills sending up clouds of dust that can be seen for miles. Cement mixers are working around the clock, and everything is being done in a grab-what-you-can atmosphere.
WikiLeaks exposé: Israel tried to coordinate Gaza war with Abbas
28 November 2010
In diplomatic cable documenting 2009 meeting, Defense Minister Barak says Egypt, PA refuse to take over Gaza in case of Hamas defeat.
The extremist rabbi proposed every non-Jew wishing to become a naturalized Israeli would have to pledge to ‘the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.’
IOA Editor: Indeed, the differences between Kahane and Barak are far more of style than substance. Israel’s political spectrum, from the Labor “Left” to the “extreme” Right, wishes to do away with the Palestinians, whether via a massive transfer, a creeping process of ethnic cleansing, or when “the opportunity arises.”
Jonathan Cook: Obama’s cave-in to Israel
4 October 2010
In fact, the terms of Obama’s letter were drafted in cooperation with Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister and leader of the supposedly leftwing Labor party. When he was prime minister a decade ago, he insisted on a similar military presence in the Valley during the failed Camp David talks…
Many senior military officials believe that Netanyahu and Barak prefer to remove anyone who might disagree with them on military policy. Ashkenazi is known to have close ties with Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, who made a brief unscheduled visit to Israel on Sunday. The apparent purpose of the visit, at least in part, was to gauge the mood in the country and make sure that Jerusalem is not planning to do anything wild in Iran.
IOA Editor: Unclear what the actual purpose of the reportedly “unscheduled visit” was. What if it was a planned visit to coordinate the timing of a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran? If so, “leaking” this sort of a statement would be the appropriate psywar. Anybody’s guess.
The decision to indict Staff Sgt. S. for killing two women during last year’s war in Gaza has caused a stir. But his lawyer will rightly ask, Why him, and not all the others who killed civilians?
Let’s give Barak himself the last word about what really happened during 2000; a few years later he wrote—boasted, actually—that he had given less to the Palestinians—in fact, “not a thing”—than did his predecessor, none other than Benjamin Netanyahu. In short, the major obstacle to a two-state settlement was—and remains—Israel, not the Palestinians, even under Arafat.
A confidential Israeli source informs (and AP confirms) that the real reason [for Barak’s trip cancellation was that Palestinian activists in France had filed legal complaints against him over his involvement in the flotilla affair. He was afraid he might be arrested.
When Netanyahu calls it a flotilla of hate, is he lying? Not only Netanyahu, the ministers, too, in addition to a few people in uniform: the army chief of staff and the commander of the navy. In any well-run country, the head of the navy would have resigned that same night.
Zeev Sternhell: An end to vagueness
4 December 2009
Israeli society will have to decide what it prefers: a future of peace, relative security and economic prosperity in exchange for territories, or holding on to the territories while endangering the future of the Jewish state…
IOA Editor: These concerns are shared by moderate Israelis who view the prospects of a “binational state” as “gloomy.”
[On] Wednesday… the coordinator of government activities in the territories, published a list of 84 apartment buildings and public structures on which construction would be allowed to continue despite the freeze. The residential buildings include 492 apartments.
IOA Editor: The “freeze” that never froze. A meaningless Netanyahu-Barak charade.
As Defense Minister Ehud Barak continues to be the subject of a torrent of criticism over his extravagant spending on five-star hotels with the use of taxpayer money, Israelis are becoming increasingly aware of the decorated former general’s lavish lifestyle.
IOA Editor: This story is presented here to show how not only criminal, from an international-law standpoint, but also profoundly corrupt Barak is. This report focuses on Barak’s personal lifestyle and twisted personality, leaving out a range of suspicions concerning his business practice, including income of several million dollars for services which, so far, remain unidentified.
British lawyers for several Palestinian families are seeking to obtain an international arrest warrant for the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, in a London court over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip… Barak is due to meet Gordon Brown today and David Miliband, the foreign secretary, tomorrow.
UPDATE:
U.K. court defers Palestinian bid to arrest Ehud Barak
Palestinians: Israel vow to halt settlements is void
7 September 2009
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said… that Israel’s decision to construct nearly 500 new housing units in the West Bank prior to declaration of a settlement freeze further undermined any belief that it is a credible partner for peace… An Israeli government source told Haaretz on Monday that U.S. Mideast Envoy George Mitchell and the Obama administration have been updated on the new housing permits. The same source also said that the new permits were approved with the understanding that in return, Israel would enact a freeze on other settlement projects.
IOA Editor: Approved by the Obama administration with an “understanding…” In other words, business as usual: the Occupation goes on, settlement expansion continues, and US support which makes this colonial venture possible continues as it has in the past 42 years. Mr. Obama is saying No to Change.
Barak: IDF troops must be ready to die for Israel
2 September 2009
Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated on Wednesday his belief that Israel Defense Forces soldiers must be willing to risk their lives in service of their country and that the government would not pay any price for the return of Gilad Shalit, who has been languishing in Hamas captivity for over three years.
IOA Editor: Running a military occupation is a serious, demanding business, requiring everybody’s participation and willingness to make the Ultimate Sacrifice. Dispossessing another nation of its land and natural resources, destroying its infrastructure, erasing its history and eliminating its future as a nation – all require a long term commitment to Jewish nationalism, far bigger and more important than an individual life.
Some 7,700 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails, among them people not tried before any court, many political activists, and children who – if they were only Jewish – could not be held in an Israeli jail. Surely Israel could ‘spare’ 450 prisoners without ‘diluting’ the overall impact of holding such a large population of prisoners. But it seems that the principle of Being-Right-Always has to come first.
Israeli Interior Minister and Knesset chairman call for Israel to continue to divide, and rule, the West Bank – expanding East Jerusalem to the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement by developing Area E1.
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch on Wednesday lambasted the state for neglecting to enforce demolition orders of illegal West Bank outposts… The state prosecutor’s office responded by saying that the government was working according to the priorities set forth by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
The myth of “natural population growth” doesn’t impress Col. (res.) Shaul Arieli, nor do the stories about little children from good Jewish homes who are left without a kindergarten. Arieli… did the calculations and found that one third of Israelis living in the territories (not including East Jerusalem) settled there during the Oslo years and another third after the peace process was suspended.
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday that an internal investigation has determined that no civilians were purposefully harmed by IDF troops during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.
Yitzhak Laor: The left’s role must be in the streets
17 February 2009
Opposition is created first and foremost in the street, not in an electoral carnival where the political programs are produced by strategist Reuven Adler and other propaganda experts. Whatever the makeup of the next coalition, the left’s role will be manifested in the streets, not in waiting for the next elections.
Akiva Eldar: White Flag, Black Flag
5 January 2009
Exactly one week ago I asked in this column how many Palestinians and Israelis must die before both sides hold their fire and tahadiyeh II is signed. The answer came, ostensibly, on Saturday, a few hours before the Israel Defense Forces stormed the Gaza Strip. Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal announced on the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Web site that he was prepared not only for a “cessation of aggression” – he proposed going back to the arrangement at the Rafah crrossing as of 2005, before Hamas won the elections and later took over the region. That arrangement was for the crossing to be managed jointly by Egypt, the European Union, the Palestinian Authority presidency and Hamas.
