By Barak Ravid - Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin expressed harsh criticism of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday in a
meeting with residents of the city of Kfar Sava, saying the pair is not
worthy of leading the country.
"My major problem is that I have no faith in the current leadership, which
must lead us in an event on the scale of war with Iran or a regional war,"
Diskin told the "Majdi Forum," a group of local residents that meets to
discuss political issues

"I don't believe in either the prime minister or the defense minister. I
don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic
feelings," he added.
Diskin deemed Barak and Netanyahu "two messianics – the one from Akirov or
the Assuta project and the other from Gaza Street or Caesarea," he said,
referring to the two politicians' places of residence.
"Believe me, I have observed them from up close... They are not people who
I, on a personal level, trust to lead Israel to an event on that scale and
carry it off. These are not people who I would want to have holding the
wheel in such an event," Diskin said.
"They are misleading the public on the Iran issue. They tell the public
that if Israel acts, Iran won't have a nuclear bomb. This is misleading.
Actually, many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the
Iranian nuclear race," said the former security chief.
In March, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan also spoke out publicly against a
military option on Iran, telling CBS' 60 Minutes that an Israeli attack
would have "devastating" consequences for Israel, and would in any case be
unlikely to put an end to the Iranian nuclear program.
Regarding relations between Israeli Jews and other groups, Diskin said,
"Over the past 10-15 years Israel has become more and more racist. All of
the studies point to this. This is racism toward Arabs and toward
foreigners, and we are also become a more belligerent society."
Diskin also said he believed another political assassination, like that of
Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 by a Jewish extremist, could occur in the future.
"Today there are extremist Jews, not just in the territories but also
inside the Green Line, dozens of them who, in a situation in which
settlements are evacuated… would be willing to take up arms against their
Jewish brothers."