Mounting tension has recently fanned the long-burning fire between two of Israel's former prime ministers, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak. Barak, who previously served as Defense Minister under Olmert, has requested that Olmert's recently written book be banned from publication until it is determined that the book does not contain any state secrets (Fendel). Relations began to sour when Barak forced Olmert into resignation as prime minister when accusations of financial and administrative impropriety began to flood in (Kalman). .
According to some recently published excerpts, Olmert revealed many state secrets in his books, many of which concern Barak. Olmert accuses Barak of being indecisive and timid, as well as trying to prevent "daring security operations" while Olmert held the position of prime minister. These accusations look particularly bad on Barak considering he is the man who will have to decide whether or not to order an attack on Iran's nuclear weapons (Kalman). .
Many people are concerned that Olmert will reveal Israel's participation in a recent bombing of a nuclear reactor site in Syria. Israel has been careful not to confirm its role in the Syrian raid, although Binyamin Netanyahu recently let it slip that he "was privy to the matter from the outset, and I gave my backing. But it's too early to be discussing this." This episode created a division between Olmert, Barak, and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, who was not asked to return for the customary fourth year of service. The bombing of the site in Syria was generally welcomed by Israelis because it has such close ties with Iran. "They were trying the beginnings of a nuclear weapons program, that's pretty clear. Any nuclear facility built by Israel's declared enemies -- and by that I don't mean countries in the Persian Gulf -- is cause for concern," said Joshua Teitelbaum, Senior Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University (Kalman).
