Aborted attack? How today’s Bibi-Barak showdown was born
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Bibi Netanyahu is desperate.
Internal polling at Likud shows that a coalition of right-wing parties will fail to form a governing majority without the assistance of Avigdor Lieberman, the thorn in Netanyahu’s side who forced him to call new elections after the Likud produced a convincing victory in April.
That’s why Netanyahu ally and Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein last week floated the idea of canceling the September elections and forming a new government by enticing the Blue and White party to join the Likud. That idea, however, was quickly rejected, both by the relevant politicians and by the attorney general, who said such a move would be illegal.
Since that time, Netanyahu’s situation has turned even more perilous with the entrance of Ehud Barak to the election campaign. The former prime minister and general is expected to ally himself with Labor and Meretz in a bid to win a key position in the next government. Alongside him in his new party is retired general Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces. Never have so many generals run in a general election.
Barak’s appearance in the campaign does more than just complicate the electoral math. He is a committed enemy of the prime minister and the only politician in the race who has defeated Netanyahu at the polls. Over the past few years, Barak, 77, has regularly and ferociously condemned Netanyahu on everything from Gaza and Iran to his legal troubles. But the two men weren’t always enemies.
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