Israel Minister: Bibi, Fire Barak for Working with Barack

In Israel, Minister of Public Information and Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Thursday to fire Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak has been meeting with U.S. officials, and there is a growing feeling that he is undercutting Netanyahu’s position. 

Edlestein told IDF Radio:

As early as three years ago, I warned that the Defense Minister’s frequent trips to the U.S. usually ended badly for the state of Israel. It’s a shame they didn’t listen to me then, and are only discovering the extent of that activity now. Every one of those trips got us embroiled in something else. Once it was a [construction] freeze, then it was jet planes we did not receive, and every time there was another misunderstanding that did not contribute to the relations with the U.S.

Another minister in the government, Silvan Shalom agreed that “lines had been crossed” in Barak’s latest trip.

Edelstein said:

I do not know what my colleague Silvan Shalom meant, but these things definitely happened. When the Defense Minister presents his private views time after time, although they are in a minority in the government, and acts accordingly in the U.S., a lot of damage is caused. We can find a better defense minister for the state of Israel within the current coalition; I said so a long time ago. I think that if we manage to pass the budget and the elections are not held early, the prime minister should fire Barak. His political power is next to zero so that the budget’s passage does not depend on him, and he has been taking advantage of the government for years.

None of this should be a surprise. There is a basic difference between Netanyahu and Barak; Netanyahu has a great respect for Jewish history and thus values every inch of the land of Israel, while Barak has no such allegiance. It was Barak who once offered 98% of Jerusalem to Yasser Arafat. Thus Barak can easily function as a water carrier for Barack Obama and his desire to reduce Israel to a size that will leave it vulnerable to destruction.

Edelstein is simply acknowledging the fact that Barak has no allegiance to Jewish history, and that’s a fact.