Former Israeli Prime Minister Reflects on Security in the Middle East

Security was tight as people filed into the John F. Kennedy, Jr. Forum for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s talk Wednesday night.

Barak, joined by Harvard Kennedy School professor Graham T. Allison ’62 as moderator, detailed his experiences working in Israel and around the world as a military figure and diplomat.

Former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak answers an audience member’s question about the two-state solution as moderator and Kennedy School Professor Graham Allison looks on. Barak spoke at the JFK Jr. Forum Wednesday evening as part of the 2016 Lamont Lecture. By Charles K. Michael

Security was at the forefront of the event with both Allison and Barak commenting on the fact that Israel is in a “tough neighborhood,” and that maintaining security is difficult given Israel’s precarious location the Middle East.

“I believe that the events of the Arab Spring have now turned into the Islamist winter,” Barak said. “Everything’s collapsing. There is no mercy for the weak.”

Barak served as the Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001 and the country’s Minister of Defence from 2007 to 2013. A fellow at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs until mid-October, Barak has been both praised and criticized for his role in a number of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and around the Middle East.

Some students did not quite see eye-to-eye with Harvard’s invitation of Barak. A group of protesters gathered outside the forum with signs opposing Barak’s speech. Some gave out pamphlets detailing his checkered past to the individuals waiting in line, while others carried signs of protest while chanting, “There can be no peace on stolen ground.”

For a brief while, the conversation dipped into the 2016 election, with Barak commenting on Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is more of a leader” than President Barack Obama.

“There is a grain of truth,” he said, adding that Putin “would not be elected in either Israel or the United States.”

Moments of humor pocketed the discussion. Allison, the Belfer Center’s director, made some quips to Barak’s past, including one military operation where he had to “dress up as a woman,” when he was a member of Israeli special forces. Barak did so “quite successfully,” Allison added.

Jazil Waris ’18, who is also a Crimson multimedia editor, said he enjoyed the emotional final comment by a Palestinian woman whose cousin was killed under Barak’s leadership.

“I always come to forums for this,” Waris said. “I think he was engaged.”

Attendee Ilan Goldberg ’20 enjoyed the bluntness of Barak’s answers.