Archiv: Ehud Barak


17.11.2025 - 18:18 [ Drop Site ]

Jeffrey Epstein and the Mossad: How The Sex-Trafficker Helped Israel Build a Backchannel to Russia Amid Syrian Civil War

(October 30, 2025)

Barak felt enormous urgency to secure a face-to-face meeting with Putin as soon as possible, before the conflict escalated further. Besides Epstein, he also requested comments from Ron Dermer, close confidante to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was preparing to become Israel’s next ambassador to the U.S. Barak wrote to Dermer, “i don’t care how you’ve corrected it. yours will be always better in clarity and conciseness than mine. try earlier. i don’t want events to overwhelm us.” Dermer swiftly returned a refined copy with more fluent English.

As was typical of Epstein’s style, he sent back a rough cut riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Unlike Dermer’s narrower cut, Epstein significantly revised Barak’s piece, and added a new title: “Wait Until It’s Too Late.”

04.05.2025 - 10:46 [ Channel 13 - 13tv.co.il ]

ברק: נתניהו הכריז מלחמה על ישראל; צריך מרי אזרחי

רה“מ לשעבר אמר ל“מוריה וברקו“ כי צריך לעשות עסקה לשחרור החטופים גם במחיר של הפסקת המלחמה“. על נתניהו: „הכריז מלחמה על ישראל; קורא למרי אזרחי“. בליכוד תקפו: „לא נקבל הטפות מוסר ממי שעסוק בלקרוע את החברה הישראלית ונפגש למעלה מ-30 פעמים עם חברו הפדופיל ג׳פרי אפשטיין, גם אחרי שהורשע בשידול קטינה לזנות“

04.05.2025 - 10:44 [ Middle East Eye ]

Ex-Israeli PM Barak urges civil disobedience to topple Netanyahu

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has called for nationwide protests to remove Benjamin Netanyahu, telling Channel 13 the current leader has „declared war on Israel.“

Barak demanded Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara force Netanyahu‘s recusal, referencing a delayed High Court ruling from January that blocked legislation protecting the PM from removal.

29.03.2024 - 22:45 [ CommonDreams.org ]

Human Rights Expert Sounds Alarm Over Israeli Firm‘s ‚Dystopian‘ Video-Altering Tech

(December 27, 2022)

Haaretz continued:

Twenty years on, this is no longer the stuff of movies: Toka‘s tech allows clients to do just that and more—not just diverting a live feed but also altering old feeds and erasing any evidence of a covert op.
Technical documents reviewed by an ethical hacker prove that Toka‘s tech can alter both live and recorded video feeds—all without leaving any forensics or telltale signs of a hack (in contrast to NSO‘s Pegasus spyware, or Intellexa‘s Predator, which leave a digital fingerprint on targeted devices).

29.03.2024 - 22:35 [ Truthout.org ]

Israeli Firm Plans Expanding Its Deployment of Video-Altering Tech

(December 27, 2022)

Co-founded by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) cyber chief Yaron Rosen, Toka “sells technologies that allow clients to locate security cameras or even webcams within a given perimeter, hack into them, watch their live feed, and even alter it — and past recordings,” Haaretz reported, citing internal documents it obtained and reviewed with a technical expert.

The company, whose activities are overseen by the Israeli Defense Ministry, “was set up in 2018 and has offices in Tel Aviv and Washington,” Haaretz reported.

29.03.2024 - 22:30 [ Haaretz ]

Revealed: The Israeli Firm Selling ‘Dystopian’ Hacking Capabilities

(December 23, 2022)

According to a company pitch deck obtained by Haaretz, Toka offers what it terms “previously out-of-reach capabilities” that “transform untapped IoT sensors into intelligence sources,” and can be used “for intelligence and operational needs.” (IoT stands for Internet of Things and refers here to web-connected cameras and even car media systems.)

29.03.2024 - 22:02 [ Forbes ]

Alexa, Are You A Spy? Israeli Startup Raises $12.5 Million So Governments Can Hack IoT

(July 15, 2018)

Coming out of stealth Monday, Tel Aviv-based Toka says it‘ll provide spy tools for whatever device its clients require. But while it‘ll try to hack devices like Apple iPhones, it has a special focus on the so-called Internet of Things (IoT), covering tech like Amazon Echo, Nest connected home products, as well as connected fridges, thermostats and alarms. (…)

Two of Toka’s investors, Dell Technologies Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, for instance, have put millions of dollars into defensive companies beforehand. (The other seed investors are Entrée Capital, Launch Capital and Ray Rothrock, CEO of cyber-analytics firm RedSeal).

23.11.2023 - 09:30 [ CNN ]

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Israel‘s Al-Shifa hospital claims

Christiane Amanpour speaks to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as Israel is under pressure to provide evidence for its claim that Hamas uses Al-Shifa hospital as a command center.

23.11.2023 - 09:26 [ Middle East Monitor ]

Ehud Barak says Bunkers were built to provide space for the hospital

(21.11.2023)

“Decades ago, we were running the place, so we held them for decades, many decades ago, maybe five or four decades ago, that we helped them to build these bunkers in order to enable more space for the operation of the hospital within the very limited size of this compound,” explained Barak.

23.11.2023 - 09:18 [ Middle East Monitor / Youtube ]

Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak says Israel built bunkers underneath Shifa hospital

Nov 21, 2023

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel has built bunkers underneath Shifa hospital in Gaza while speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.

Israel had previously said that there was a Hamas command centre under Shifa hospital before encircling and raiding it, later revealing they had found a small amount of guns, combat gear and a laptop.

07.11.2023 - 18:15 [ CBC.ca ]

How Netanyahu‘s Hamas policy came back to haunt him — and Israel

(Oct 28, 2023)

This symbiotic relationship between Netanyahu and Hamas has been remarked on for years, by both friends and enemies, hawks and doves.

Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel‘s Shin Bet security service, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in 2013 that „if we look at it over the years, one of the main people contributing to Hamas‘s strengthening has been Bibi Netanyahu, since his first term as prime minister.“

In August 2019, former prime minister Ehud Barak told Israeli Army Radio that Netanyahu‘s „strategy is to keep Hamas alive and kicking … even at the price of abandoning the citizens [of the south] … in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.“

22.07.2023 - 22:31 [ Times of Israel ]

Dozens of ex-security chiefs: Netanyahu ‘directly responsible for harm to security’

Comparing the current climate to “the eve of the Yom Kippur War,” a highly traumatic event for Israel, the signatories said they were “holding up a bright red stop sign in front of you and your government.”

The signatories include former IDF chiefs Ehud Barak, Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz; former Mossad heads Nahum Admoni, Efraim Halevy, Shabtai Shavit, Danny Yatom and Tamir Pardo; former Shin Bet directors Carmi Gillon, Yuval Diskin and Nadav Argaman; several former police commissioners and prison service leaders; and many former military generals.

19.07.2023 - 17:43 [ Times of Israel ]

„There‘s anarchy here,“ Amsalem says: Amsalem calls to arrest anti-overhaul protest leaders, oust AG and probe ex-PM Barak

(9 July 2023)

“There’s no intelligence, no arrest on the nights [of the protests], no investigations of [former Supreme Court chief justice] Aharon Barak or Ehud Barak. You’re hurting? Protest — just like people have since the establishment of the state. But why riot? It’s lawlessness,” he said, adding: “Ehud Barak, in my opinion, should have been in the interrogation room some time ago.

20.06.2023 - 16:20 [ Haaretz ]

Netanyahu Seeks to Recreate the Old ‚King Bibi‘ With Strategic Judicial Overhaul Counterattack

The Bibi-ist camp has launched a multifront counterattack after several weeks of restraint, regrouping and garnering strength. Amid optimistic reports about cracks and quarrels within the coalition, its members unleashed their bombardment: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the return of pursuing the justice system‘s legislative „reform;“ threats of execution were directed at protesting air force pilots and former PM Ehud Barak; Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron was also threatened and called as savage…

05.05.2023 - 10:50 [ NYmag.com ]

Who Are the Newly Revealed Jeffrey Epstein Associates?

(04.05.2023)

A multiple-part report from The Wall Street Journal has revealed a number of additional prominent people who were associates of Jeffrey Epstein’s. Their ties to the notorious sex trafficker and longtime high-society hobnobber were not previously known, having not appeared in Epstein’s infamous black book or in the public flight logs of passengers who traveled aboard his private jet before his jailhouse death in 2019 while awaiting trial.

The new reports also deepen public understanding of the ties between Epstein and some boldfaced names who he had previously been associated with. And they underscored just how frequently Epstein met with his high-flying pals.

05.05.2023 - 10:40 [ Wall Street Journal ]

Bill Gates, Leon Black, Thomas Pritzker: ​One​ Day in the Life of Jeffrey Epstein

(May 4, 2023)

On Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, Jeffrey Epstein had a full calendar. He was scheduled to meet that day with Bill Gates, Thomas Pritzker, Leon Black and Mortimer Zuckerman, four of the richest men in the country, according to schedules and emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Epstein also planned meetings that day with a former top White House lawyer, a college president and a philanthropic adviser, three of the dozens of meetings the Journal reported he had with each of them.

05.05.2023 - 10:20 [ Wall Street Journal ]

Jeffrey Epstein Documents, Part 2: Dinners With Lawrence Summers and Movie Screenings With Woody Allen

(May 3, 2023)

Jeffrey Epstein, far right, and some of the people he scheduled meetings with, clockwise from top left: Woody Allen, Ehud Barak, Terje Rød-Larsen, Eva Andersson-Dubin, Lawrence Summers, Leon Black, Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman.

07.04.2023 - 23:10 [ Haaretz ]

Ehud Barak Was Right, Israel‘s Occupation Did Bring About Fascism

“In closed rooms, or in some bubble, people form a view of reality that keeps moving away from actual reality.”

“A diplomatic tsunami,” Netanyahu quoted scornfully, citing Barak’s apocalyptic predictions while imitating the diction of his former elite unit commander. But the truth is that the events of recent weeks have proven that Barak was totally correct and that the tsunami is already upon us.

16.01.2023 - 12:10 [ Ehud Barak / Ynetnews.com ]

Netanyahu‘s rule will end, but the road may be long

As we speak, sparks of collective will, determination, and unity are being ignited. If we get pushed over the edge, fire will break out. And if attempts to dismantle the Israeli Declaration of Independence persist, its flames will grow and spread.

The day a million citizens take to the streets, this government will crumble.

I don‘t know how long it will take, or how much harm will be done on the way. What I do know is that at the end of the day – we will prevail.

19.07.2022 - 18:35 [ Haaretz ]

Not Just Netanyahu: Why Do Billionaires and Politicians Make Such Good Friends?

It seems that there is no better, no more characteristic demonstration of the huge gap between the aggressively marketed image and what really occupied Netanyahu in his years at the helm. He is obviously not the only politician who likes the proximity of tycoons. Ariel Sharon, Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Ehud Olmert also liked being close to rich people and the pampering they could provide.

08.01.2021 - 21:17 [ Haaretz ]

President Rivlin, Act Now – Before It‘s Too Late

The moment of truth for our future is approaching. What we saw the other day on the steps of the Capitol and inside it is a warning sign. Netanyahu’s readiness to break every rule and law is obvious, and reached a peak at the start of his trial, with that scene in the courthouse that could have come right out of a gangster movie. And in fact, the prosecutor in his trial is already under guard day and night, just like the prosecutors in the trials of organized crime bosses, and for the same reasons.

The trial has begun, and so a new situation is before us.

14.01.2020 - 07:33 [ israelnationalnews.com ]

Barak: Leaving Shaffir out is a ‚serious mistake‘

Former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday welcomed the expected union between the Labor and Meretz parties, but expressed concern over the fact that Green Movement chairwoman Stav Shaffir was left out of the alliance.

26.12.2019 - 09:59 [ Haaretz ]

The Israeli Center-left Must Open Its Eyes

The leader, who has been indicted for bribery, is hysterically yet soberly and determinedly pulling out all the stops to save himself from having to face justice. In so doing, he continues endlessly to incite, to divide, to threaten to take credit for others’ achievements and to lie. He and his family are prepared to burn down the house, and with it the norms of public life in Israel. A century ago, the Irish poet W. B. Yeats bewailed the blindness of leaders who brought on the apocalypse of World War I:

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

Sounds familiar?

23.09.2019 - 15:51 [ New York Times ]

Israeli Report Cites a Thwarted 2010 Move on Iran

(04.11.2012)

Mr. Ashkenazi and Meir Dagan, who was the head of the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, at the time, would later say that this was an attempt at “stealing a war,” Ms. Dayan reported, because in their view such an order required a decision of the full cabinet, not the smaller group in the meeting, who were then known as the forum of seven.

Both Mr. Ashkenazi, who is now retired, and Mr. Dagan, who stepped down after the meeting, have become vocal critics of plans for a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran, and of Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Barak’s aggressive approach.

23.09.2019 - 15:45 [ theGuardian.com ]

Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak over Iran

(28.04.2012)

Diskin‘s remarks followed a furore over comments made on Wednesday by Israel‘s serving military chief, Benny Gantz, which starkly contrasted with Netanyahu‘s rhetoric on Iran. Gantz said he did not believe the Iranian leadership was prepared to „go the extra mile“ to acquire nuclear weapons because it was „composed of very rational people“ who understood the consequences.

23.09.2019 - 15:38 [ New York Times ]

Israeli Army Chief Says He Believes Iran Won’t Build Bomb

(26.04.2012)

The Israeli military chief described the Iranian government as “rational” in interviews published Wednesday and said he did not believe it would build a nuclear bomb, appearing to put some distance between himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

“I believe he would be making an enormous mistake, and I don’t think he will want to go the extra mile,” the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Force, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, told the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

12.08.2019 - 23:15 [ Jerusalem Post ]

Democratic Union blasts Gantz over willingness to form govt with Netanyahu

Speaking to the press in Tel Aviv, the three leaders of the Democratic Union – MK Nitzan Horowitz, MK Stav Shaffir and former prime minister Ehud Barak – also took Blue and White to task for what they described as its right-wing policies, arguing that the party would not replace, but instead participate in, a right-wing government.

28.07.2019 - 12:12 [ JTA.org ]

New left-wing alliance including Ehud Barak aims to unseat Netanyahu in Israel’s elections

The united slate announced Thursday has the far-left Meretz party running with Barak’s new Israel Democratic Party and Stav Shaffir, who left the Labor Party, under the Democratic Camp moniker. It also hopes to bring Tzipi Livni, a former foreign minister, out of political retirement.

What it means: While Democratic Camp won’t overtake Netanyahu’s Likud and his right-wing camp, it could combine with the center-left Blue and White party to ensure that Benny Gantz, a former military chief of staff, is tapped to form the government.

26.07.2019 - 10:26 [ Jerusalem Post ]

Polls show Democratic Union Party to net 8-12 seats

Horowitz said the party would be left-wing and proud, and would not join any right-wing government, even one not led by Netanyahu. The top goal of the party in the agreement its leaders signed was reaching a peace agreement.

“The Israeli Left has returned to be large and influential, and the days of kissing up to the Right are over,” he promised.

26.07.2019 - 10:14 [ Haaretz ]

Democratic Union Leaders Launch Campaign: Left Has Never Been Stronger; Netanyahu – Your Time Is Up

(25.07.2019)

Horowitz says alliance is ‚setting out on a path that will lead to regime change in Israel‘; Barak, placed 10th on slate, vows to ‚give Netanyahu a fight,‘ while Shaffir calls for Israeli Arabs to see union as their allies

26.07.2019 - 10:08 [ theStar.com ]

Former PM Barak, others join forces before Israel’s ‘do-over’ elections

(25.07.2019)

The newly formed “Democratic Union” said in a joint statement it would be made up of Barak’s “Democratic Israel” faction, the dovish Meretz party and senior Labor Party official Stav Shaffir.

22.07.2019 - 13:47 [ Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post's chief political correspondent ‏/ Twitter ]

Poll on @kann_news finds @barak_ehud‘s Israel Democratic party would not cross threshold, while @NewsChannelIL poll predicts just 4 seats.

22.07.2019 - 13:41 [ Haaretz ]

Answering Barak, Daily Mail Says It Stands by Epstein Article, Rejects ‚Malicious‘ Motives

(18.07.2019)

In its statement the tabloid said: „DailyMail.com stands by its recent story concerning Ehud Barak’s relationship with the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein 100 percent.“

„We note that Mr. Barak’s assertion that he was not party to Mr. Epstein’s illegal activities is a denial of a claim we have never made,“ the Daily Mail said in their statement, adding that the story only referenced the content of the photos.