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Former Israeli PM: nation state bill damages Israel

December 6, 2014 at 1:46 pm

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has criticised the ‘Nation State’ bill, which the current government of Benjamin Netanyahu adopted last week.

Barak insisted that the bill is damaging to Israel and is unnecessary, adding that Israel has “lost self-confidence.”

Speaking at a meeting in Tel-Aviv, Barak said, “The ‘Nation State’ bill provides an effective tool for our opponents to accuse Israel of distancing itself from democracy as a preliminary step towards setting up a system against the law.”

He added: “After the upcoming elections, the Palestinian issue and seeking to reach a regional agreement with the moderate Arab states should be the priorities of the Israeli government.”

Barak, who was the defence minister during the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip in 2012, said that the real threat to Israel is not the two-state solution, but the one-state for two nations. “This will lead Israel to a non-Jewish or non-democratic state,” he said.