Diskin says he has 'no faith' in current leadership

Former Shin Bet chief says leaders are not fit to lead, adds they are misleading the public about Iran.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Yuval Diskin 311 (photo credit: Sivan Faraj )
Yuval Diskin 311
(photo credit: Sivan Faraj )
Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin sharply criticized Israel's top leadership at the Majdi Forum in Kfar Saba Friday night, saying he has no faith in it and its ability to lead Israel, Army Radio reported.
Referring to the leaders as "our two messiahs," a likely reference to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Diskin said "they are not fit to hold the steering-wheel of power. I have no faith in the current leadership in Israel and its ability to conduct a war."
Regarding their handling of the Iranian nuclear issue, Diskin said the leadership "presents a false view to the public on the Iranian bomb, as though acting against Iran would prevent a nuclear bomb. But attacking Iran will encourage them to develop a bomb all the faster."
On Tuesday, Netanyahu told CNN that while sanctions against Iran are visibly impairing its economy, they have not impacted its continuing nuclear activities.
"They're certainly taking a bite out of the Iranian economy, but so far they haven't rolled back the Iranian program or even stopped it by one iota," Netanyahu said. "I hope that changes, but so far, I can tell you the centrifuges are spinning."
"If the sanctions are going to work, they better work soon," he emphasized.
Thursday, Barak cast doubt on the success of upcoming nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran.
Despite the strongest-ever sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Barak said in an Independence Day speech, "the chances that, at this pressure level, Iran will respond to international demands to irreversibly stop its program seem low. I would be happy to be proven wrong."
The United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia (the P5+1) are due to meet Iran for a second round of nuclear negotiations on May 23 in Baghdad.
Diskin also said Friday that political killings like the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin may reappear in Israel. "There are tens of Jewish extremists in the territories and in Israel that are ready to use firearms against Jews," he said.


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