Barak doesn't give a fig says Barak

No not Obama, he really doesn't give a fig. This is Ehud Barak claiming that the inclusion of "Labour" in a Netanyahu government doesn't amount to a fig-leaf for a government intent on avoiding even cosmetic concessions to the Palestinians. Here's the Guardian:

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's next prime minister, was last night on the verge of forming a majority coalition after the Labour party agreed a last-minute deal to join his incoming government.

The vote came after an all-night negotiations between Ehud Barak's Labour and Netanyahu's Likud. Although as many as seven of Labour's 13 elected MPs opposed the move, the party's 1,400-strong central committee followed Barak's lead and voted to join the government.

The decision gives Netanyahu the comfort of a government with a broader base. He will lead a coalition drawn from across the political spectrum which embraces in an unlikely partnership with Avigdor Lieberman, an outspoken far-right politician, and Barak, head of the traditionally left of centre and social welfare-oriented party.

Netanyahu will be prime minister, with Lieberman as his foreign minister and Barak remaining as defence minister, where he was a key figure behind Israel's three-week war in Gaza.

"I am not afraid of Binyamin Netanyahu," Barak told his party. "We will not serve as anyone's fig leaf. We will ensure there will not be a narrow right-wing government, but a real government that looks after the State of Israel."

That's right, the State is everything, the people nothing. And that's not a narrow right wing government? At least they admit it's some kind of right wing government but then with zionism we are always talking about degrees of rightism.

People might like to ponder the fact that when Rabin was assassinated his widow said that it was Netanyahu that created the atmosphere that made the assassination possible and now Rabin's successor is power-sharing with him. What a lovely spectacle!