Former President Shimon Peres addressed the upcoming elections in March for the first time publicly on Saturday, hinting that he would like to see a replacement for current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. 

“These elections are crucial,” Peres said. “We have an opportunity to make the best out of the situation we find ourselves in. Some things have changed for the worse and need to be fixed, but there are good things and we should take advantage of them.”

One issue Peres said had improved was Israel’s relationship with the “moderate” Arab world.

“The position of the Arab world has changed, at least in part, and the Arab League and Saudi Arabia have offered policy initiatives of their own and there are many Arab countries with moderate regimes,” he insisted. “Terror has destroyed entire countries (Syria, Iraq, etc.) and they understand that terrorism and infiltration cause them great harm and are willing to create a united front with us and to fight [these phenomena].” 

“This is our opportunity to raise Israel higher and higher,” he continued. “The dreams we dreamed during the War of Independence were small and now we have a big dream.” Peres said that “in this new global world, there are more powerful forces than governments and regimes, and my aim now is to place the global world within Israel and vice versa, for the sake of Israel.” 

When asked about Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Peres indicated that he wished to see a different leader.

“We, the people will decide who leads during the next election…we don’t need great leaders, we need leaders who will serve the interests of the people. Anyone who desires to be a great leader will serve the interests of the people.”