Ex-PM Ehud Barak calls for ‘civic revolt’ against Netanyahu, who is ‘acting like a caged animal’

Former prime minister Ehud Barak calls for “civic revolt” to bring down the government of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he says is “acting impulsively like a caged animal.”

“A black flag of illegitimacy flies over every one of its actions, and it’s our civic duty to act in every way possible toward its downfall, before it marches us into the abyss,” says Barak, speaking before some 1,000 anti-government protesters at Habima Square.

To applause, Barak calls on National Unity chief Benny Gantz not to be tempted once more to join the government should Netanyahu urge him to do so “when he feels his seat teetering.”

He expresses support for a plan reminiscent of the Egyptian framework for Gaza’s construction: “A technocratic government alongside a Palestinian bureaucracy, with Saudi and Emirati funding and Egyptian oversight… no Hamas member could take part in the arrangement.”

Barak says the framework could have led to Israeli-Saudi normalization and “intimate Israeli involvement in shaping the future of the region.”

“Instead, Netanyahu announced today that he was beginning a foolish war,” says Barak.

The former premier, who in 2000 offered a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, makes no mention of Saudi Arabia’s conditioning of normalization on there being a viable pathway to Palestinian statehood.