Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barack lashed out at PM Benjamin Netanyahu over his ’reckless gamble’ over the aid deal with the US.
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barack lashed out at PM Benjamin Netanyahu over his 'reckless gamble' over the aid deal with the US, saying that such policy will result in the cancellation of vital defense projects in the Zionist entity and the loss of thousands of jobs.
During a conference on Wednesday evening, Barak accused Netanyahu of having made an unsuccessful "gamble" in his management of Israel's relationship with the United States.
"After the signing of the American military aid agreement for the coming decade, the magnitude of the damage caused by Netanyahu's reckless gamble will come to light," Barak said.
"Instead of receiving $4.5 billion per year—which was both plausible and expected just one year ago, shortly after the signing of the nuclear agreement with Iran—Israel will receive $3.8 billion. Even these funds will only be given on the condition that Israel agrees to refrain from demanding any additional funding from Congress."
Barak said that because of Netanyahu's gamble, "vital projects will have to be halted or cancelled altogether, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs in the (Israeli) defense industries."
The former prime minister went on to accuse Netanyahu of interfering in US politics.
"Instead of having an open and candid dialogue behind closed doors with the president (about the Iran agreement), as any other prime minister would've done, we've witnessed Netanyahu's flagrant interference in American politics, intruding into the domestic partisan dispute," Barak said.
"Netanyahu has done all this despite the predictable failure of his actions, and now must face the concrete costs of this failure. Such unforgivable negligence," he added.
For its part, Likud party responded as saying: "When it comes to military aid from the US, Barak should be the last one to talk. While Prime Minister Netanyahu is about to sign an unprecedented aid agreement with the US, which amounts to almost $40 billion, we're still waiting for the $1 billion in US military aid that Barak promised we'll receive during his hasty withdrawal from Lebanon."
