Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak is a unique personality. He will always be the most decorated soldier in the history of the IDF, brave, determined, and sure of himself. An Ehud Barak isn't born every day, and the political system can't let him go that easily. He has deliberated quite a bit about whether or not to re-enter politics, and how; he passed up the chance ahead of the election for the 21st Knesset, and now he has said to himself that a completely unexpected opportunity has presented itself, one he mustn't let pass.
In the past few years, despite being out of the government and the Knesset, Barak was the stand-out figure among the opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and when he unveiled his new movement, he focused on his personal opposition to Netanyahu. He spoke harshly about the need to topple the "Netanyahu regime," claiming that it was leading to a "freefall," and as his former commander, said that Netanyahu "must not be allowed to remain in power."
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As I was watching the press conference in which Barak announced his return to politics, it seemed as if I'd seen it rolled out a long time ago – when the Blue and White party inaugurated its campaign. Barak called on people on the Right to join him, a former IDF chief of staff, who had a major general in the reserves (Yair Golan) at his side, and he wanted to fix what had gone wrong over the past few years. When he was asked what the difference was between him and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, Barak said that the "generals' party" lacked fire in their belly. But in the meantime, it's difficult to believe that the fireless bellies justify the rise of yet another party that, like Blue and White, takes care not to say anything about anything.
Exactly 20 years ago, Barak faced off against Netanyahu. He spoke, of course, about various social and political issues, but he was obligated to one thing: withdrawing from Lebanon within a year of establishing a government. People voted for him to get Israel out of Lebanon, and when his attempt to make peace with Syria failed – and with it the possibility of leaving Lebanon under the terms of a peace deal with Syria and Lebanon – he decided on a unilateral withdrawal without any IDF soldier sustaining so much as a scratch.
His term as prime minister was indeed too short, and that was mostly due to his lack of political experience, which made it difficult for him to hold onto his coalition partners. But his time in office was most significant in terms of his election promise. This time, he is going to the public with nothing more than a very general promise of "tikkun" (fixing or repairing) in the religious sense. But that cannot be enough.
The new generals' party has to make a clear, unequivocal statement, such as saying it is willing to launch immediate negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas based on a two-state solution and the 1967 borders. He needs to promise that he will pick up where he left off and that he will do everything so that by the time the next Knesset finishes its term, Israel will have a border between it and the Palestinians, even if that border isn't a concrete wall, and even if Palestinians are allowed to work in Israel and Israelis are allowed to live in Palestine.
If all that happens is that the new generals try and take away as many seats as possible from the "old" generals and the other left-wing parties, Barak's experiment will be a failure. On the other hand, if he actually brings us a new platform, and manages to bring Labor and Meretz on board with it, and in the absence of a real message from Blue and White they can send direct messages that he believes in and has worked to implement – an immediate renewal of the peace process, reducing socioeconomic gaps, and separating religion and state (remember the "secular revolution" of 2000?) – then Barak's new framework might have a chance of succeeding.
A brave man has founded a new movement, and it will take a brave man to throw off the cloak of slogans and announce what he intends to do. And a brave man will need to decide that if Labor and Meretz don't join him, he cannot stay around just to nibble away at them.
