Israeli Ex-Spy Chief: Netanyahu Too Focused on Iran War for Leadership Position

Insists Netanyahu 'Squandered' Chances for Peace With Palestinians

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already coming under attack from several angles in the final weeks of campaign season, former Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin, an oft-vocal critic of Netanyahu’s has stepped up to blast him on his foreign policy.

Diskin slammed Netanyahu in an interview, saying that he had become “unreliable” and was too obsessed with starting a war with Iran. He insisted Netanyahu had squandered several chances for peace with the Palestinians because he was over-focused on starting a war.

“There is a crisis of leadership here, a crisis of values and total contempt for the public,” Diskin said, adding that “people will think I’m exaggerating, but I’m telling you: from up close it looks even worse.”

Diskin was one of several former security officials who spoke out against the calls for war earlier in 2012, an effort which at the time had Likud officials discussing a new law to muzzle former security officials from speaking against upcoming wars the current government seeks to start.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.