(IsraelNN.com) Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lashed out viciously at Labor leader Ehud Barak Sunday because of his intention to join a government headed by Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu. Without naming names, Olmert said at the weekly cabinet meeting: "Whoever thinks that he can create international cooperation on the subject of Iran, on the basis of a policy that will kill any chance of a political agreement with the Palestinians and the Syrians, is suffering from delusions.""Whoever believes in that," Olmert said, "all I can say is that I am sorry about his belief. But whoever does not believe in that, yet cooperates with it -- I can say that I feel sorry for his villainous nature."
The first part of his declaration was a hinted reference to Netanyahu. The second was a reference to Barak.
Olmert had more hinted barbs for Netanyahu and Barak: "He who wants to establish a government that will ignore the two-state solution, and who finds a numerical majority for that, will again prove that sometimes, a majority based upon foreign considerations can lead a country to the mouth of the abyss," he said -- referring to Netanyahu.
Again referring to Barak, Olmert added: "Those who, in the depth of their hearts, know the truth but prefer other considerations that have nothing to do with the good of the state, I say that they will not be cleansed. Israeli history will not forgive them."
Sources in Barak's bureau said in response that they "do not intend to be drawn into reactions to the pathetic attempts, which Olmert is having difficulty hiding, to hurt Defense Minister Barak in any way and at any cost. Olmert would do better to retire quietly and allow the political arena to function for the best interest of the state."