Ehud Barak criticizes Netanyahu: The clash with Turkey is reckless and unnecessary

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called the deliberate escalation of tensions with Turkey foolish, sharply attacking his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Barak said Netanyahu was not acting out of concern for Israel’s security interests, but out of a need to preserve his political survival. In his view, the prime minister is behaving like “a gambler obsessed with luck,” while his reckless decisions are deeply worrying the few allies and friends Israel has left in the world and the region.

He said the steps taken by Netanyahu were creating a strong political incentive to move toward elections, producing a series of security crises that could heighten public anxiety. At the same time, Barak stressed that Turkey is “neither Iran nor Assad’s Syria,” meaning that issues with Ankara could be managed through diplomacy.

“There is no strategic problem with Turkey that cannot be resolved, eased or deferred over the long term through discreet contacts coordinated with the United States, as well as through American influence in Turkey and Syria. Netanyahu has gone completely off the rails,” Barak said.

The former prime minister added that the conduct of the head of the Israeli government was deeply alarming the country’s few remaining allies and friends, both internationally and in the region.