Among the millions of Jeffrey Epstein files just released by the U.S. Department of Justice were documents showing the late child-abusing financier’s ties with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Tabloid intrigue aside, the material underscored something more disturbing than an association born of greed and sleaze. It exposed a mindset that explains the snobbery and elitism that have long permeated Israel’s self-styled ruling class.
One passage stood out for scrutiny. In a recorded conversation between the two men, Barak discussed Israel’s demographic character and aliyah, suggesting that the country could reshape its identity by being more careful about whom it admits and elevates.
He stressed the importance of bringing in the “right kind of people” into the country and making conversion to Judaism easy, so as to keep the Orthodox at bay.
It’s nothing new for Israel’s chattering classes to hold Barak’s view that the “riff-raff”—mainly, religious and Mizrachi Jews—are responsible for the state’s societal ills and distasteful voting habits. It’s a festering resentment that began with the 1977 “upheaval,” when the Likud under Menachem Begin won the elections, ending 30 years of Labor Party dominance.
Though himself Ashkenazi, of European origin—and basically secular but traditional—Begin was extremely popular among the Orthodox and those who hailed from North African and other Middle Eastern countries. He gave these disenfranchised groups a sense of pride and belonging.
That’s not the only reason they admired him, however. Both sectors tended to lean to the right politically—the former embracing Judaism over secularism, and the latter opposed to compromises with the “Palestinian” Arabs, whom they didn’t believe wanted anything other than to annihilate the Jewish state.
Furthermore, each was considered intellectually inferior and not sophisticated enough to be trusted at the ballot box. The snootiness was and still is prevalent in academia, the media, the judiciary and the upper echelons of the security establishment.
So transparent is this ecosystem that calling it a “deep state” is laughable since there’s nothing covert about newspaper columns, TV panels and policy forums promoting ideas that Barak and his ilk espouse.
Which brings us back to his chat with Epstein, which wasn’t simply policy-musing. It was an assertion that replacing the populace is crucial to neutralizing, if not erasing, those whose values and loyalties threaten the left-wing zeitgeist.
That it was a matter-of-fact expression of disdain—delivered in far worse English than Barak’s education level, reputation and globe-trotting warrants—isn’t surprising. What makes it notable is that he shared such sentiments with Epstein, a pervert with a dubious source of endless income and property.
Talk about mutual moral turpitude bordering on the grotesque, particularly since Barak knew that Epstein had already served a prison sentence as a sex offender when their relationship was at its height.
That’s why he covered his face with a scarf while entering Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in 2016. And nobody who saw the photo of that pathetic disguise bought his subsequent claim that he was simply bundling up due to the cold weather.
Interesting that he had no problem baring his views about the Jews who elevate the nation versus those who drag it down. No. He was comfortable enough to spew his “gatekeeper” venom without the least bit of shame.
Sadly for him and his ilk, the harder they try to orchestrate a revolution, the further away their goal slips. Reality on the ground will do that, which is why Benjamin Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history, while Barak is a has-been whose fantasy of returning to the helm will be realized when hell freezes over.
This doesn’t mean he’s out of circulation. On the contrary, he’s routinely invited to Israel’s woke television panels as an oracle of democratic virtue.
Abroad, his relentless denunciations of Israel’s elected government have earned him applause from circles increasingly comfortable blurring the line between criticism of Netanyahu and hostility to Zionism itself. Oh, and to Jews in general, of course.
Never mind. Barak’s happy to damage Israel on an international scale if it serves his overriding obsession to topple Netanyahu. Indeed, he’s demonstrated that no national interest is too sacred to sacrifice on the altar of his personal vendetta.
As his exchanges with Epstein illustrate, Barak didn’t have to be caught with young girls to merit derision for depravity.
