Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firmly stated that Jeffrey Epstein “did not work for Israel,” while simultaneously using renewed attention on the Epstein files to attack his predecessor Ehud Barak.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Barak’s links to Epstein drew wide media attention after the two reportedly met several times in 2015 and 2016, years after Epstein’s first criminal conviction.
Photographs circulated at the time showed Barak entering Epstein’s Manhattan, New York residence. In his first public comment on the Epstein documents, Netanyahu said that “the unusual and close relationship between Epstein and Ehud Barak does not suggest that Epstein worked for Israel; according to him, it proves the opposite.”
In a clear effort to separate the individual from the state, Netanyahu added that:
“Obsessed after his electoral defeat more than two decades ago, Barak has for years attempted to obsessively undermine Israeli democracy by collaborating with the radical anti-Zionist left in failed efforts to overthrow the democratically elected Israeli government.”
He further accused his predecessor of being engaged “in public and behind-the-scenes activities to undermine the Israeli government, including encouraging mass protest movements, causing unrest, and feeding false media narratives.”
Ehud Barak remains one of Netanyahu’s loudest critics and has repeatedly called for the removal of his government.
