Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced Monday that he is leaving politics and will not participate in parliamentary elections on January 22, the Washington Post reports. Barak will remain in his current post until after then.
In recent months Barak appeared to be trying to distinguish himself from Netanyahu, criticizing the prime minister’s publicly confrontational stance toward Washington over its policy on Iran’s nuclear program, and suggesting that possible military action could be deferred.
But on Monday Barak told a news conference that he had decided to “leave political life and not serve in the next Knesset,” Israel’s parliament. A former prime minister and army chief of staff, Barak said he wanted to devote more time to his family and allow others to “assume senior positions.”