Corruption scandals, Barak said, are what link the two.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: JULY 21, 2017 02:20 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends a meeting of the Likud party in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem(photo credit: REUTERS)
Former prime minister Ehud Barak, using strong language in a video he posted on Facebook on Thursday, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being corrupt.Speaking from the United States, Barak listed a series of criminal investigations tied to Netanyahu and his associates, including the expensive gift affair; newspaper collusion scandal; submarine episode; Bezeq probe; ammonia-moving controversy; problematic natural gas deal; and the case involving furniture in the two Netanyahu residences.“Hasn’t the time come to put an end to all of this?” Barak asked. “Have we all gone crazy?” He noted that Netanyahu’s lawyer, David Shimron, handles coalition negotiations and represented the agent of the submarine company ThyssenKrupp . He also said Netanyahu fired Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger, saying “and replaced him with a friend who coordinates with the tycoon. Are we suckers who are willing to live with it?” Barak compared the situation to the Sopranos television show and the Godfather movies, “but without style.”“I have many Likudnik friends who are no less patriotic than I and no less serious,” he said. “It’s not a matter of Right and Left.It’s what we are and who we are. Let’s say together we are sick of the corruption. Let’s take action.”