Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warns of Israel’s collapse and urges mass civil disobedience to oust Netanyahu and prevent dictatorship.
In a scathing opinion piece published Friday in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak declared that “Israel of the Declaration of Independence and the Zionist vision is collapsing,” calling on the Israeli public to rise in mass civil disobedience to force the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Describing the situation as a national emergency, Barak warned that the country is heading toward dictatorship under a coalition driven by “the messianic vision of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, the sectoral greed of the ultra-Orthodox, and the personal interests of Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Barak accused Netanyahu of deliberately prolonging the war in Gaza to avoid political reckoning. “The hostages are being sacrificed on the altar of government survival,” he wrote, blaming Netanyahu for repeatedly obstructing opportunities for their release.
“We are stuck in a ‘war of deception’ in Gaza. Blood is flowing, the families and businesses of reservists are collapsing, and at the same time, draft-dodging is thriving,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, judicial reforms continue to “trample the gatekeepers,” and the Prime Minister is “entangled in the QatarGate and ‘Bild’ scandals,” Barak added.
Barak argued that Israel’s decline is being accelerated by Netanyahu’s attempts to subvert democratic institutions: “In order to survive, he is striving to turn Israel into a dictatorship — appointing yes-men to lead the Shin Bet and Attorney General’s office, and breaking the Supreme Court. Nothing is unthinkable, not even the cancellation of free elections and the rise of armed right-wing militias.”
In one of the article’s most pointed warnings, Barak wrote: “The constitutional moment has already arrived. As children, we recited ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ — and today some complete the phrase: ‘Chai baSeret’ (living in a fantasy).”
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The only viable path forward, Barak argued, is nonviolent civil resistance. “The only action that can still save Israel is nonviolent civil disobedience, centered on a complete shutdown of the state until the government is replaced or Netanyahu resigns.”
Barak called on a broad range of figures to lead the movement — from the President of Israel to leaders in business, academia, the judiciary, and civil society — warning that failure to act now will plunge Israel into darkness: “A mark of shame will be etched on the foreheads of the Prime Minister and his ministers for generations. But the stigma of disgrace will also belong to those who stood by and remained silent.”
He concluded with a call to the streets: “Only the public can force success. When we are a million people in the streets — determined and persistent — the government will fall. This is the time. After the parliamentary recess, it will be too late.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Good riddance to bad trash. The majority of the Israeli Jews are savages who enjoy seeing innocent men, women and children torn to pieces by US-made bombs being dropped on their tents. There are no innocent Israeli Jews because no one did anything to stop it. ANY of them could have stormed the castle at any time. Protesting is good, great. but after so many innocent children were killed they should have done something-anything! to stop it. Judaism did this. The Israeli Jews waited until the murderous IDF killed everyone, now they’re playing victim?? F#CK NO! they’re all guilty.
I am Jewish . Not on my name
Can HAMAS work with the israeli opposition in a broad front to destroy the current israeli hunta of henchmen ? Can HAMAS put out feelers.. to see if the israeli opposition is willing to recognize Palestine in return for an end to all attacks and the release of all living hostages?…Can HAMAS, in secret communications with barak, bring the pressure of the Muslim World and the wider World to bear on the current israeli hunta and bring about its fall ? The Genocidal Maniacs now ruling in israel may even resort to nuclear weapons because for them everything material and spiritual is at stake … and they are insain!
Israel’s problems go much, much deeper that a deranged and fearful Netanyahu. It has never faced up to its original sin, the Nakba, and its subsequent twisting of promises to keep the Palestinians from returning. A state that starts off like that, will sooner or later ignore the promises it made to its citizens, and will eat itself. I suspect the current Second Coming of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, aka the Tsarist Republic of Israel, is not going to need the intervention of a Saladin to bring it down – it’s highly capable of turning on itself.