Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak resigns

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak announces in Tel Aviv yesterday that he is quitting politics. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak last night stunned the country with a surprise announcement he was leaving politics, a decision that comes after a decades-long career that saw him also serve as prime minister.

At a hastily announced press conference at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Mr Barak, 70, said he would step down as Defence Minister when the new government takes office after general elections on January 22.

"I have decided to resign from political life and not participate in the upcoming Knesset elections," he said. "I will finish my duties as Defence Minister with the formation of the next government in three months," he said, saying that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he respected Mr Barak's decision and thanked him for the role he had played in his ruling coalition government.

The shock announcement comes when the Jewish state has been pushing the international community to pressure Iran over its contested nuclear program.

Alongside Mr Netanyahu, Mr Barak has warned Israel could take pre-emptive military action to prevent Iran from going nuclear, although last month he told a British newspaper that the moment of truth had been delayed for "eight to 10 months".

Before the press conference, observers had speculated the veteran politician and former head of Israel's Labour party would announce he was poised to join forces with former Kadima leader Tzipi Livni to run on a centrist ticket in the January elections.

But few believed Mr Barak would announce he was quitting political life altogether, in a decision which comes just days after the Israeli military ended a major assault on Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media said Mr Barak was keen to conclude by signing up to an Egyptian-brokered truce.

Mr Barak said he would not be contesting the elections in any form and dismissed questions about a possible comeback to the political field.

A liberal leader who once headed Labour, Mr Barak nonetheless agreed in March 2009 to lead his party into the hawkish right-wing government of Mr Netanyahu.

Some in the government opposed that truce, and Mr Barak has come under increasing pressure from Mr Netanyahu's Likud party, much of which opposed him as Defence Minister.

It was the second major comeback for the former chief of staff, who withdrew from politics altogether after his 1999-2001 premiership, having tried and failed to make peace with then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

He had offered unpopular concessions on east Jerusalem, wanted by the Palestinians as the capital of a future state, only to see Arafat spurn the offer and Israeli voters punish him with a resounding endorsement of veteran right-wing challenger Ariel Sharon.

As premier, Mr Barak oversaw Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000 after a two-decade occupation.

His military career was legendary.

In one episode he disguised himself as a woman on a commando raid in Lebanon to assassinate three senior Palestinian militants.

He also took part in a commando assault in Tel Aviv in 1972 on a Belgian passenger plane hijacked by Palestinian guerillas.

And he participated in the 1976 raid to free Israeli hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, that saw the death of Yonatan Netanyahu, a brother of Israel's Prime Minister.