Likud files complaint against former PM Barak for incitement

The Likud party filed a police complaint against former prime minister Ehud Barak on Friday, claiming that he incited violence and called for civil unrest and insubordination.

Barak said on Thursday that it is the duty of soldiers to refuse an order over which "a black flag flies", against the background of the judicial reform promoted by the government.

"Freedom of speech does not provide protection to a former elected official who uses it in a cynical way, who sees it as a weapon of wild incitement aimed at provoking a civil war, and a call for rebellion against the government, which won the trust of the people in the elections and the trust of the Knesset," the party wrote.

The party, which requested that a criminal investigation be opened against the former prime minister, also claimed that "Barak's statements are saturated with incitement and may motivate the opponents of the reform of the judicial system, who for several weeks have been exposed to a severe rhetoric of incitement, to resort to violent acts, which may harm the order of the government and the society in the country."

Barak's statements

Yesterday, Barak compared the issue of refusing an order to the issue of obedience to a "clearly illegitimate" regime, which he warned that Israel would get if the legal reform was implemented.

He also said that if the coalition does not stop its moves, "we will be in a dictatorship in six weeks." He said these statements at the democracy conference of Haaretz, the New Israel Fund and the Zulat Institute.

"When there are orders over which a black flag is flying, it is not the right of the soldier or officer to refuse, it is his duty," Barak said. "The civilian equivalent of this is here."

He added that "We have a contract with liberal democracy, as it is defined in the Declaration of Independence, and we do not have a contract with any dictator. In the test of history, those who obeyed the orders, and those who gave the orders, are remembered in eternal disgrace."

He further stated that "historical experience has shown that when 3.5 percent of the population stubbornly persists in demonstrations and protests by all the means at its disposal, the government either collapses or falls. I don't know what damages will be caused along the way, but I am sure that we will win because we are on the right side of history and we are not afraid of anything or anyone."