Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday launched a scathing verbal attack on Kadima and the contenders for the party's chairmanship, only two days after similar statements evoked harsh criticism of the Labor chairman from within his party.
"Despite the challenges facing Israel and decisions that must be made, the Kadima contenders could not even reach a decision on primaries in their party without the Labor Party's intervention," Barak said during a meeting of the Tel Aviv district of the Labor Party, asserting that he was best fitted to lead the country. "What we need is dedicated leadership - no marketing gimmick can cover up the need for such experienced leadership. You know I have it."
Barak went on to assert that Kadima was a "temporary party," adding that "what the public needs is a broad emergency government."
In an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday, Barak referred to US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's commercial that warned of her rival Barack Obama's unpreparedness for receiving a phone call at 3 a.m. requiring an immediate and fateful decision.
"The foreign minister, with her background as it is, is not built to make decisions, not at three in the morning and not at three in the afternoon," Barak said. "Being in the room when decisions are made does not make you fit and ready to make them."
Asked about Barak's statements following a speech for the Reut organization at Latrun, Livni told The Jerusalem Post, "As it says in the Talmud, 'Don't try to explain that which is beyond you.'"
The quote comes from the Talmud tractate Hagiga, which quotes from the apocryphal book of Ben Sirah, and she used it to imply sarcastically that she was unworthy of responding to Barak.
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