Jerusalem Mayor Barkat said to seek national office

Sinai IS leader said killed in airstrike

Egyptian security officials say they have killed Rashed Abu al-Kassem, the head of the so-called “Sinai Province” terror group loyal to Islamic State.

Al-Kassem was killed in an Egyptian air force strike, the Haaretz news site reports.

Police indict Hebron man for stabbing policeman

Police file an indictment for attempted murder against a Palestinian man from Hebrew, Yasser Trawa, 20, over the stabbing of a policeman at Jerusalem’s Nablus Gate in June.

The attack was “nationalistic in motive,” say police.

The officer was severely wounded in the attack, and underwent major surgery and a lengthy hospitalization, the NRG news site reports.

Theft reports abound amid summer vacation

The summer vacation seems to be accompanied, as always, by a surge in reports of theft.

A Ramle man is caught attempting to break into cars in the city. He was caught red-handed trying to hide stolen cellphones in a roadside bush, according to the NRG news site, along with carjacking tools.

In Ashdod, a 30-year-old man is caught breaking into an old age home in an attempt to steal expensive medical equipment, police say.

And in Rishon Lezion, a 35-year-old man described by authorities as homeless is suspected of stealing a large amount of cash from a passerby.

Alleged Jewish extremists banned from West Bank

The security services issue restraining orders to at least seven right-wing Jewish activists overnight Saturday, bringing the total number of alleged extremists temporarily banned from entering the West Bank or Jerusalem in recent days to 10.

The wave of restraining orders comes as authorities attempt to crack down on Jewish extremists in the wake of the July killing of Sa’ad Dawabsha and his 18-month-old son Ali in a firebombing attack on their home in the Palestinian village of Duma in the West Bank. Authorities believe Jewish terrorists are behind the attack, which featured Hebrew-language graffiti sprayed at the scene.

In a statement, the Shin Bet says the measures were taken against individuals in the agency’s “uncompromising effort to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure that carried out the attacks, and prevent additional activity that endangers public security.”

— Tamar Pileggi

Toddler said banned from daycare for not being Jewish

A family residing in the northern West Bank settlement of Avnei Hefetz claims their local school system discriminated against them by refusing to enroll their toddler in a state-supervised daycare because she is not considered Jewish according to Orthodox standards.

Amit Hai Rubin and his partner, Sarah, a Kenyan national, tell Haaretz that settlement officials and the school’s administration gave them conflicting explanations for their decision to obstruct the enrollment of their two-year-old, Hila.

Rubin says that in March, when he went to register Hila in the settlement’s nursery school, school administrators told him that the family would have to be approved by the settlement’s admissions committee and the fact that their daughter was not considered Jewish would count against her.

Rubin appealed the process to the community’s rabbi, who told Rubin he believed Israeli law allowed state-run religious schools to deny admission to non-Jewish children.

— Tamar Pileggi

Migrant crisis may rip apart ‘selfish’ EU – Italy FM

ROME – A deepening immigration crisis is threatening to rip the “soul” out of the European Union, Italy’s foreign minister warns.

In a hard-hitting interview with the Il Messaggero daily, Paolo Gentiloni says the kind of chaotic scenes witnessed this weekend at the Greece-Macedonia border represented a real threat to the free movement of people across the bloc.

Separately, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel calls for the EU’s asylum policy to be overhauled, and for member-states to share the migratory influx “fairly.”

“On immigration, Europe is in danger of displaying the worst of itself: selfishness, haphazard decision-making and rows between member states,” Gentiloni says. “I am very worried. Today it is on this issue that Europe will either rediscover its soul or lose it for good.”

— AFP

S. Korea slams North over deployments

SEOUL – North Korea has mobilized dozens of submarines and doubled its artillery units along the border, South Korea says, accusing Pyongyang of undermining top-level talks aimed at averting a military confrontation.

A defense ministry spokesman says 70 percent of the North’s total submarine fleet — or around 50 vessels — left their bases and disappeared from Seoul’s military radar.

South Korean soldiers conduct a military exercise in Yeoncheon, south of the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas, South Korea, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

The movement of such a large number of submarines is “unprecedented,” the spokesman says, adding that Seoul and Washington are beefing up their military surveillance in response.

— AFP

Husband of murdered Bedouin woman arrested

The husband of 22-year-old Tasnim Abu Kweider, a Bedouin woman found dead last month in her village near Beersheba, is arrested on the suspicion that he was involved in the “honor killing” murder of his wife.

The Beersheba Magistrate’s Court also extends on Sunday the remand of Sleiman Abu Kweider, Tasnim’s father, by eight days. The judge in the case says evidence suggests the father may have been part of the conspiracy to kill Tasnim. The victim’s mother and brothers are also suspects in the case.

Turkey jails mayors over Kurdish self-rule claims

ISTANBUL – A Turkish court remands in custody three mayors from the Kurdish-dominated southeast on charges of seeking to destroy national unity by allegedly supporting calls for regional self-rule, reports say.

The investigation comes as Turkey carries out its biggest operation in years against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have responded by tearing up a 2013 ceasefire and staging daily attacks against the security forces.

Those placed under arrest include the co-mayors of the central Sur district of the region’s biggest city Diyarbakir, Seyid Narin and Fatma Sik Barut, the official Anatolia news agency reports.

— AFP

British hostage rescued in Yemen by UAE forces

Forces from the United Arab Emirates rescue a British hostage held for more than a year by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, authorities in London and Abu Dhabi say.

A statement by the UAE’s official WAM news agency says 64-year-old Douglas Robert Semple, a petroleum engineer, was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda in February 2014 in Yemen’s vast desert Hadramawt province.

It says UAE forces freed Semple in a military operation and took him to Yemen’s main southern city of Aden, from where he was flown to Abu Dhabi.

— AFP

Over 76,000 sign UK petition to arrest Netanyahu

More than 76,000 people sign a petition started this month on the British Parliament’s website calling for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Netanyahu is slated to be in the UK on a state visit in September.

A petition that garners 100,000 signatures is considered for debate in Parliament.

The UK government responds to the petition by noting that as a visiting prime minister Netanyahu is entitled to “inviolability and complete immunity from criminal jurisdiction,” and defending Israel’s right to respond to “the terrorist tactics of Hamas who fired rockets on Israel, built extensive tunnels to kidnap and murder, and repeatedly refused to accept ceasefires.”

Economic growth slowed dramatically last quarter

Government figures show a dramatic slowdown in the economy in the second quarter of 2015.

The quarter saw economic expansion equivalent to just 0.3 percent annual growth, the Central Bureau of Statistics says.

That’s lower than debt-wracked Greece, which saw 3.1%, and may be a sign that recession looms. Only France and Japan among developed nations saw less growth.

In the wake of the report, the government lowers its growth projection for 2015 from 2.5% to 2%, a drop that will have a dramatic effect on the balance sheet of the 2015-2016 budget proposed by the government last month and set to be debated in the Knesset beginning September 2.

Death toll from Syria regime strikes hits 34

The toll from heavy government bombardment of a rebel stronghold outside the Syrian capital rises to 34 civilians, including 12 children, a monitoring group says.

The increased toll comes as nine people, including civilians, are killed in rocket attacks on a regime-held neighborhood northeast of Damascus, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

“There are now 34 civilians that were killed in Saturday’s attacks on Douma, among them 12 children and eight women,” says Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad struck the rebel-held town of Douma with shells and aerial attacks on Saturday.

— AFP

Hamas apologizes for violent, sexual Jewish-Palestinian cartoon

Hamas apologizes for publishing a sexual and violent cartoon featuring a long-nosed Jew in traditional Haredi garb and a Palestinian woman who represents the West Bank.

The group does not apologize for the depiction of the Jew, but for depicting the West Bank as submissive to Jews, Palestinian Media Watch reports. A Palestinian Authority policeman is shown standing near the crime and doing nothing.

PMW says the cartoon depicts “a long nosed Jew raping a woman in yellow, the color of Fatah.”

The cartoon published and then removed by Hamas. (Palestinian Media Watch)

Hamas removes the cartoon from its Twitter account and apologizes after PA officials and many West Bank Palestinians express outrage on social media.

25 Israeli hikers rescued from rural Georgia flooding

Some 100 backpackers, among them 25 Israelis, are rescued from the village of Omalo in the northeast of the Caucasus nation of Georgia.

Stormy weather led to flooding and road closures that trapped the hikers in the village.

The Israelis are evacuated by a rescue crew sent by Israeli insurance provider Harel, which coordinated with Georgian army units working in the area.

15 lightly hurt in 3-way bus collision in Bat Yam

At least 15 people are lightly hurt when three buses collide on Balfour Street in the seaside Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam.

Magen David Adom paramedics on the scene say all the injuries are minor.

Lebanon PM hints at resignation over protests

Lebanon’s prime minister hints he might resign after violent protests against government corruption and political dysfunction focus on a monthlong trash crisis.

Tammam Salam says in a news conference that security forces who used force against protesters will be held accountable and that the right to demonstrate is protected by the constitution.

Salam tells the protesters he is ready to have a dialogue with them, as around 100 protesters chant “leave, leave.”

Salam’s comments on Sunday come a day after police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons battle thousands of protesters in downtown Beirut.

— AP

Explosion at eastern China chemical plant kills 1

An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China kills one person and injures nine others, a state news agency reports Sunday, less than two weeks after a similar disaster at a chemical warehouse killed 123 people.

The explosion occurred just before 9 p.m. Saturday in Zibo, a city southeast of Beijing in Shandong province, the Xinhua News Agency says. It says firefighters put out the resulting fire just before 2 a.m. Sunday.

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a chemical plant is on fire following an explosion in Zibo, east China’s Shandong Province, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015. (Guo Xulei/Xinhua via AP)

One person working at the facility was killed, Xinhua says. It says the cause of the blast is under investigation.

Environmental authorities detect no contamination from the blast, according to Xinhua.

Egypt arrests 3 for IS support under new terror law

Egyptian police arrest three individuals under a new anti-terrorism law who are accused of spreading Islamic State propaganda through Facebook.

The police directorate in the southern Sohag province says Sunday the three had two laptops containing IS videos.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi approved a draconian law last week that sets a wide-ranging definition of terrorism and prescribes harsh punishments.

— AP

Turkey opposition accuses Erdogan of ‘coup’

The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party accuses President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of seeking to stage a “civilian coup” over plans for snap elections after coalition talks failed.

Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in June 7 legislative polls but is unable to form a coalition by the deadline that runs out Sunday.

The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which held weeks of coalition talks with the AKP, says Erdogan deliberately stymied the negotiations in the hope of triggering new polls and a better result for his party.

“There is no law in Turkey at the moment,” says CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. “Democracy is currently suspended and the constitution is is not working,” he tells a televised meeting of CHP MPs in Ankara.

— AFP

Released asylum seekers ordered to avoid Tel Aviv, Eilat

Interior Minister Silvan Shalom orders that some 1,200 African asylum seekers slated for release this week from the Holot detention facility not to allowed to live in Tel Aviv or Eilat.

The release follows a High Court ruling that their incarceration while the government worked to determine their asylum eligibility had lasted too long.

Ministers have faced pressure from residents in poorer neighborhoods of southern Tel Aviv and Eilat, where most of the asylum seekers live, to expel them from the country.

Asylum seekers who defy the order will be arrested and placed in Saharonim Prison, near the Holot facility, the Interior Ministry says.

‘Iran to get S-300 air defense systems by year’s end’

Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan says his country will receive advanced Russian S-300 air defense missile systems by the end of 2015.

Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan. (YouTube screen capture)

According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, Moscow has agreed to sell the system — which would mark a dramatic upgrade to Iran’s air defense capabilities — despite pressure from the US and Israel.

Dehghan adds that Iran also plans to purchase advanced fighter jets from Russia.

UK’s Tehran embassy opens with ‘Death to England’ scrawled on queen’s portrait

A surprise awaited British VIPs in Tehran at the reopening of the UK embassy to Iran Sunday.

The Telegraph reports that “death to England” is scrawled in Persian above a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II inside the embassy building, as well as in other locations in the compound.

The graffiti and some damage were left when mobs stormed the embassy after the UK broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran four years ago.

According to The Telegraph, “Officials claimed that removing the graffiti without damaging the building’s elegant Victorian walls required specialists who had not yet been brought in. But there was surprise that the offending graffiti, which was written in Persian, had not been covered up anyway prior to [UK Foreign Minister] Hammond’s visit.”

3 arrested for alleged Dawabsha revenge attack

Three men, reportedly Israeli Arabs, are arrested for allegedly planning a terror attack against Jews to avenge the killing of Sa’ad Dawabsha and his toddler son Ali in July.

The three are caught by the Shin Bet security service after allegedly throwing firebombs at Jews near Jerusalem’s Nablus Gate some three weeks ago in an attempt to kill the Jews in the same way the Dawabshas were killed. Three Jewish passersby were lightly wounded in the firebomb attack.

Israeli authorities believe Jewish extremists threw firebombs into the Dawabsha home on July 31 as the family slept, in a so-called “price tag” terror attack. Sa’ad, the father, and 18-month-old Ali eventually succumbed to their wounds from the ensuing fire, and an older brother, 4, and the mother remain hospitalized more than three weeks later.

Israeli youth soccer team suffers food poisoning in Bulgaria

Members of an Israeli youth soccer team suffer food poisoning at a hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The Maccabi Petah Tikva youth soccer team falls ill over the weekend in Sofia, where they are attending a training camp. Several players are admitted to the hospital, Israel’s Sport 5 television reports.

After the food poisoning incident, which begins hours after a joint Friday night dinner, the team purchases its own food to avoid a similar incident.

Avi Luzon, a Maccabi Petah Tikva team official, tells Sport 5 that they believe the team may have intentionally been poisoned after singing Hebrew songs at their Friday night dinner.

— JTA

Man collapses, dies during relative’s funeral

A 52-year-old man collapses and dies during a funeral for a family member in Netanya.

There is no immediate report on the cause of death.

Protesters pour into Beirut demanding gov’t resign

Thousands of protesters pour into central Beirut on Sunday demanding that the country’s top politicians resign, hours after Prime Minister Tammam Salam hints he might step down following violent protests triggered by a monthlong trash crisis.

The demonstrations, the largest in years, rail against the corruption and dysfunction that has brought about Lebanon’s current political crisis. The country does not have a functioning Cabinet or parliament, and hasn’t had a president for more than a year.

Salam says in a news conference at the government’s headquarters that if this Thursday’s cabinet meeting is not productive, “then there is no need for the council of ministers.”

— AP

23 soldiers, Sunni fighters said killed in Iraq

At least 23 Iraqi soldiers and government-allied militiamen are killed in an attack by Islamic State militants in the turbulent Anbar province west of Baghdad, Iraqi military and police officials say.

The officials say Sunday’s attack, which killed 17 soldiers and six Sunni militia fighters, takes place in the rural district of Jaramshah, north of Anbar’s provincial capital, Ramadi.

They say the IS fighters use suicide bombings and mortar shells and that the chief of army operations in Anbar, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Dulaimi, is lightly wounded.

— AP

Cancellation of Tel Aviv route by American Airlines may be ‘political’

Israeli business journal TheMarker says the announced cancellation of the Tel Aviv-Philadelphia route by American Airlines may have been caused by political considerations.

While American says the route is shutting down because it loses money, TheMarker quotes industry sources who say the route was profitable. “The past year hasn’t been easy for the airline industry in general, but that’s far from saying that the route wasn’t profitable. No one would have operated a money-losing route for so many years,” a source says.

Passenger figures for 2015 show a 2.7 percent rise over the same period in 2014, the Israel Airport Authority says.

American is part of the OneWorld alliance of airlines, which means it shares flights and other services with Arab carriers such as Royal Jordanian and Qatar Airways. According to TheMarker, American’s Israel office was not told about the route’s closure before it was made public, and there is concern that the move comes to bolster the airline’s ties to its Arab counterparts.

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange indices see steep drops

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange sees sharp drops in multiple indices Sunday.

With the exception of Tel Aviv, global stock markets are closed Sunday, so the drops are seen by analysts as a response to similar steep falls in international markets Friday, when Tel Aviv was closed.

The Tel Aviv 25 index drops 4.08%. The Tel Aviv 100 drops 4.1%.

Litzman can’t remain a deputy minister, says High Court

The High Court of Justice rules that Deputy Health Minister Ya’akov Litzman cannot continue to serve as deputy minister.

Litzman is the de facto minister, the justices rule, though officially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds the minister’s post.

Litzman is head of the ultra-Orthodox Knesset faction United Torah Judaism, whose rabbis have resisted fully joining the cabinet in order not to be seen as legitimizing a Jewish state that does not fully adhere to Jewish religious law.

United Torah Judaism’s Yaakov Litzman in the Knesset, September 15, 2014. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

The court gives the government 60 days to either appoint Litzman a full minister or fire him from his post – potentially jeopardizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

Litzman tells Channel 2 in the wake of the verdict that the decision would be put to UTJ’s Council of Torah Sages, a group of rabbis who make many of the party’s key policy decisions.

El Al plane’s malfunction briefly raises alert at Ben Gurion

Ben Gurion International Airport briefly goes on high alert, with ambulances on standby, in preparation for an emergency landing of an El Al plane carrying 200 passengers.

The 737 takes off from Ben Gurion for Paris, but is forced to turn back due to a malfunction in the pressurization system of the plane. Despite the initial declaration of a state of emergency at the airport, there does not appear to be any danger to the passengers and crew.

Egypt stock market falls to 2-year low

Egypt’s main stock index falls to its lowest level in almost two years.

The market, known as EGX 30, closes at 6784.09 on Sunday, the start of the trading week, falling to its lowest level since December 2013.

The 5.43-percent drop comes after a steady fall last week, and as other Middle Eastern markets also tumble, and it follows an overall global slowdown. Dubai’s stock market closes nearly 7% lower after a further slide in oil prices, and Israel’s closes some 4% down on key Tel Aviv Stock Exchange indices.

— AP

UTJ’s rabbis to decide Wednesday on joining cabinet

United Torah Judaism’s Council of Torah Sages, a rabbinic panel that makes the political party’s key policy decisions, will meet on Wednesday to decide on the party’s response to the High Court ruling that forbids party leader Yaakov Litzman from serving as deputy health minister with full ministerial powers, the party says.

The court ruled Sunday that since Litzman serves as the de facto minister in the Health Ministry, the law requires that he also hold the minister’s post de jure.

Litzman is head of the ultra-Orthodox Knesset faction United Torah Judaism, whose rabbis have resisted fully joining the cabinet in order not to be seen as legitimizing a Jewish state that does not fully adhere to Jewish religious law.

Deri appoints new antitrust commissioner amid gas debate

Economy Minister Aryeh Deri appoints attorney Uri Schwartz as the state’s acting antitrust commissioner, replacing the resigning David Gilo whose term is over at the end of August.

The turnover happens as the cabinet and Knesset are due to debate a controversial reform of Israel’s natural gas market that Gilo had all but struck down as creating a de facto monopoly, but that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to push through in order to stabilize the natural gas market.

Schwartz serves as the legal adviser of the Antitrust Authority, a post he has held since 2011.

Gay parade attacker to be indicted for murder

Yishai Schlissel is set to be indicted tomorrow for the murder of 16-year-old Shira Banki.

The Jerusalem District Prosecution is set to file the indictment with the Jerusalem District Court, Israel Radio reports.

Schlissel faces additional charges after going on a stabbing spree at last month’s Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, killing Banki and wounding five others. He refuses legal representation and has defended his actions as vengeance for gay pride activists’ ostensible defiance of religious morals.

Banki, a Jerusalem high school student, succumbed to her wounds in hospital a few days after the July 31 attack.

Girl seriously hurt after falling off horse

A 12-year-old girl is seriously injured after falling off a horse in the village of Beit Oren near Haifa.

She is evacuated to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

Knesset to examine how Barak Iran leaks passed censor

The head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, says he will summon the military censor to explain to the committee why Channel 2 television received the go-ahead to broadcast recordings over the weekend in which ex-defense minister Ehud Barak details how Israel was ostensibly poised to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

“I asked myself how this could happen, and in all of my inquiries I’ve made since, I have yet to receive a real answer,” the Likud MK tells Army Radio.

Channel 2, which broadcast Friday the bombshell recordings made by Barak, said Saturday that “anger” at the former defense minister was widespread in the Israeli leadership, and that numerous senior political and security officials were also privately intimating that Barak’s version of events was not entirely accurate.

The Prime Minister’s Office has not issued an official response to the broadcast.

Jerusalem Mayor Barkat said to seek national office

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is said to be preparing a run for Knesset and national office, Channel 10 reports.

Barkat has worked hard in recent weeks to sign up thousands of supporters as Likud members, a group he hopes will form the nucleus of support that will put him on the party’s Knesset list in the next legislative elections, the television news outlet says.

His supporters reportedly come from beyond Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, including from major Likud-leaning cities like Ashdod and Ashkelon.

If Netanyahu does not run again for prime minister, Barkat is said to be planning to throw his hat into the ring for the party’s — and possibly the country’s — top spot.

Israeli 6-year-old drowns in hotel pool in Turkey

An Israeli child dies in a drowning accident at the Turkish seaside resort of Kemer.

The child, age 6, was at a five-star hotel in the city on a family vacation.

He reportedly went swimming in the hotel pool with his older brother. Witnesses say other guests at the pool noticed he was drowning, pulled him out of the water and called emergency services, but paramedics who arrive on the scene find him already dead.

Security upped for MK Dichter over death threats

The Knesset Guard ups security on Likud MK Avi Dichter, reportedly after the Shin Bet security service receives intelligence information on “tangible threats” to the lawmaker’s life.

Dichter is a former cabinet minister and ex-head of the Shin Bet.

Hollande, Merkel to talk migrant crisis Monday

French and German leaders will meet in Berlin on Monday to give a new push to European efforts to tackle the biggest migrant crisis in 50 years, a source in the French presidency says.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will strive to provide a fresh impetus to the EU’s response in dealing with the rapidly worsening situation, a source in Hollande’s office says.

They will also discuss the Ukraine crisis along with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to the Elysee source.

The diplomatic push comes as Europe grapples with an unprecedented influx of migrants fleeing war and unrest in what the EU describes as its worst refugee crisis since World War II.

— AFP

IS-affiliate fighters killed on way to attack Sinai airfield, Egypt says

Two jihadists from the Sinai Province group — the Islamic State affiliate in Sinai — are reportedly killed while attempting to attack an Egyptian military checkpoint outside the el-Arish airfield in the northern Sinai Peninsula, according to media reports quoting Egyptian security officials.

Netanyahu ‘weak,’ ‘prefers fear over hope,’ Barak says

New recordings made by Ehud Barak and aired by Channel 2 TV reveal that the former defense minister described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “weak,” indecisive, and fearful.

In other recordings released earlier Sunday, Barak says he, along with Kadima party lawmakers, had plotted to oust party leader and former prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Speaking about Netanyahu’s appointment of Avichai Mandelblit as cabinet secretary after the former chief military advocate general was linked to the Harpaz affair, Barak said Netanyahu found it hard to make decisions.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90)

“Bibi [Netanyahu] is weak, he doesn’t want to take difficult steps unless he is forced to,” Barak is heard saying.

“Bibi himself is clouded in a sort of deep pessimism, and a tendency… in the balance between fear and hope, he generally prefers to be more fearful, he once called it worried,” Barak says.