Yuval Diskin, formerly the head of the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet), on Friday said he backed Yitzhak Herzog, who heads the joint Labor-Hatnua list, as a candidate for Prime Minister.
In a post on his Facebook page Diskin, who is known for his constant criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote, “Why is this a good opportunity to give Herzog a chance? Mainly because Netanyahu has failed in almost every major area and because Herzog is the best alternative.”
“After you take out all the talking, the fine public appearance and the fluent English – almost nothing is left of six years of Netanyahu. What remains are mostly failures,” he charged.
“Netanyahu failed in almost every area in which he dealt in recent years. In the socioeconomic field, his ‘greatest success’ was dissolving the social protests of 2011. Since then, the cost of living continued to rise significantly, the housing crisis has continued to worsen, poverty has increased and reached frightening proportions and the social and economic gaps continued to grow,” said Diskin.
“Netanyahu likes to brand himself, especially since Ehud Barak left politics, as ‘Mr. Security’. I, and many senior officials in the defense system, have never been clear on what he bases it, because he has little defense experience and he has never caught on as an authority on matters of security in the eyes of security chiefs and usually did not like to take responsibility when he had to make decisions or be held responsible for the results,” he wrote.
“If we look at what Netanyahu managed to do over the last six years in the security arena, we see a very problematic dowry: 1,000 terrorists for Gilad Shalit released by those who attacked each release of terrorists in the past,” Diskin added. “In addition, Netanyahu released dozens of terrorists, some of them dangerous, in a dubious transaction with the support of the Jewish Home designed to avoid freezing construction in Judea and Samaria. Two military campaigns were fought against Hamas, and were not really decided.”
Diskin further charged that Netanyahu “was prepared for a ceasefire with Hamas without treating the tunnels themselves. Luckily Hamas violated the ceasefire and we found ourselves in a ground operation that was not prepared in advance, in which IDF soldiers demonstrated great courage and impressive combat level, but even here due to lack of a clear leadership on the political level – there was no clear decision. In between, the security situation in western and eastern Jerusalem deteriorated as well, and a mini intifada broke out there.”
“Netanyahu failed in every major area over the last six years and a prime minister who failed big time needs to go home. Herzog may not be the perfect candidate, but in the current situation I do not see any alternative that is better than him,” he concluded.
Diskin is known for his strong criticism of Netanyahu, and has in the past blasted Netanyahu as weak when it comes to the peace process with the Palestinian Authority.
He previously portrayed Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Ehud Barak as “messianic” and “unfit to hold the reins of power.”
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)