The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that former Prime Minister Ehud Barak called on Israeli Army Radio to besiege the Knesset.
Barak told Army Radio that “30,000 citizens should besiege the Knesset for three weeks day and night,” adding that when the state is “shut down,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will realize that his time is over and that trust in him is “non-existent.”
Earlier in February, Barak published an article in Haaretz, calling for early elections in Israel “before it’s too late” given that elections are taking place in 2026.
The former Israeli prime minister criticized Netanyahu’s policies, stressing that his failure to reach a prisoner exchange deal was a “disgrace” on Israel, and warned that the course of the war could threaten to “drown the country in the quagmire of Gaza.”
Former prime minister Ehud Barak calls for Israelis to 'besiege the Knesset' as he criticizes the Netanyahu government's inaction and failure to take accountability.https://t.co/bS1CNRYhCY
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) February 25, 2024
“The IDF cannot improve the odds of victory when there is no specific political goal, and in the absence of a realistic goal we will end up drowning in the quagmire of Gaza,” he said.
“Between Israel and the possible solution (in Gaza) stands Netanyahu himself and his blackmailers, (National Security) Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and (Finance) Bezalel Smotrich,” Barak said, adding that they “prevent Israel from moving for its security in coordination with the United States, and drag it into the abyss to serve their own interests.”
A Locus of Instability – For Israel the Writing is on the Wall
In January, Barak said Hamas had not been defeated, noting that the chances of recovering the captives were declining despite alleged gains made by the Israeli army.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, has been waging a devastating war on Gaza.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 29,692 Palestinians have been killed, and 69,879 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7.
(AJA, PC)
Barak has clearly explained Israel’s dilemma. Netanyahu knows his days in power are swiftly coming to an end.