File photo: Ex-Israel PM Ehud Barak
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has opened fire on incumbent Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, describing him as a threat to the establishment of a Zionist state in Israel.
In a lecture held in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Barak described the current Israeli government as “dark, nationalist government”, according to the Israeli Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Wednesday.
“The single inevitable result of this purpose is Israel’s decay into a nation with a Muslim majority [with] constant internal violence and strife, and one that is not Jewish, Zionist, or democratic,” he said.
Barak argued Netanyahu’s refusal of accepting the two-state solution would thwart the possibility of separating from the Palestinians.
That government, he said, was busy “setting Israelis against each other and sowing the seeds of hatred of foreigners, weak populations, and minorities”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said that Israel was prepared for “any scenario” in the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to an official statement. “We are in the midst of a battle that involves an exchange of blows and I can tell you that the [Israeli] army is ready for any scenario,” Netanyahu reportedly said during a military inspection with Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Asked whether ongoing tension along the Gaza-Israel border fence might be resolved non-militarily, he added: “I believe we are taking the right steps.”Video: Israeli troops martyr Palestinian on Gaza border Meanwhile, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Egyptian officials had called on Hamas to stop Palestinian activists in Gaza from flying incendiary kites and balloons into Israeli territory. According to the newspaper, Hamas responded to the Egyptian request by saying it had “already conveyed to Cairo this week its inability to end the practice”. In recent weeks, activists in Gaza have been flying incendiary kites and balloons into Israel as part of ongoing demonstrations along the security fence. Since the rallies first kicked off on Mar. 30, more than 130 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire. Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel. Gazan dies of wounds in JerusalemGaza truce doesn't apply to incendiary kites: Israel PMThey also demand an end to Israel’s 11-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of basic commodities.
Israel prepared for ‘any scenario’ in Gaza: Netanyahu
Barak, 75, had served as Israel’s prime minister from 1999 to 2001.
In December, Barak, in a New York Times op-ed, said the Netanyahu government was endangering the entire Zionist project as it inches closer to an annexation of the West Bank, “precluding any permanent separation from the Palestinians.”
U.S.-sponsored peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel collapsed in 2014 over the latter’s refusal to halt settlement building in the occupied territories.