Jerusalem – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not want to carry out the prisoner swap that led to the release of Gilad Schalit, former prime minister Ehud Barak claimed in new leaked recordings aired by Channel 2 on Monday.
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In the latest release from a series of interviews Barak held with his biographers which have been leaked to Channel 2 in recent days, Barak is heard saying, “Netanyahu was against the Schalit release, I convinced him.”
Barak, who at the time of the October 2011 Schalit deal was defense minister in Netanyahu’s government, said that he leaned on Netanyahu to agree to the swap of over a thousand Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Schalit for more than two months.
He also criticized Netanyahu’s behavior during the ceremony in which Schalit was welcomed back to Israel after he had been released from Hamas captivity.
“There was something embarrassingly petty about him,” Barak said, claiming that Netanyahu had set up Schalit’s homecoming so that he would be the only one in the frame with Schalit when photographers snapped pictures of his arrival.
Barak accused Netanyahu of being “childish,” and valuing words and photo opportunities above actions.
The Likud issued a statement rejecting Barak’s comments, calling the former prime minister “pathetic.”
“His attempts to come back to the public stage cross all red lines – including defaming the prime minister.”
The ruling party added that “the prime minister did not need Ehud Barak in order to decide to free Gilad Schalit. The prime minister is the one who made the decision and brought the deal to the cabinet for approval, just as he ordered the rearrest of those prisoners freed in the Schalit deal who went back to terror.”
The blood of those killed and injured in attacks by those terrorists released as part of the Shalit deal is on the hands of the politicians and Shalit family and supporters of this ill-advised release. I’m not sure I care who convinced who to move forward but it really doesn’t matter.
Its gotta be the little little kinderlach the little little kinderlach, (remember this song?) need I say more?
Not that he needs my endorsement, but I’ve long considered Ehud Barak an untrustworthy weasel. He’d sell his mother for political gain.
His behavior the last few days simply confirms that. He and Ezra Friedlander are cut from the same cloth
Barak incriminates himself.
A jew who doesn’t have the backbone of Torah values is unable to govern successfully and effectively.
I don’t believe a word Mr. Bean Barak says.
So Barak admits blame for the Jews who were killed as a result.