A pro-Palestinian group in Canada, calling Ehud Barak an “Israel war criminal,” is protesting a visit by the former Israeli prime minister.

The Canada-Palestine Association is among pro-Palestinian groups in British Columbia protesting an economic conference to be held in suburban Vancouver at the end of the month that Barak is scheduled to attend. It said in an open letter that bringing Barak to the Surrey Regional Economic Summit was “like inviting a bank robber and killer with blood on his hands to address the banking industry.”

City Councilor Linda Hepner of Surrey told the Canadian Jewish News that the economic summit was nonpolitical and the protests of the Canada-Palestine Association, the Canadian Boat to Gaza and Independent Jewish Voices were not influencing them.

“It’s all about an economic summit, not a political platform,” Hepner told the Canadian Jewish News. “We’re thrilled to have the three former prime ministers here for the occasion.”

Barak will be joined by former Australian Prime Minister Jullia Gillard and former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Feb. 27.

The letter criticizes Barak for the 1988 assassination of Khalil al-Wazir, the co-founder of the Palestinian political party and terror movement Fatah, and for alleged “war crimes” committed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip during the winter of 2008 and 2009, during which Barak served as Israel’s defense minister.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote in his new book that he once tried to ban Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from the White House, when he was President George H. W. Bush’s national security adviser, because of what he said was the Prime Minister’s “arrogance and outlandish ambition.” Netanyahu was deputy foreign minister at the time.

Gates writes openly about his disgust with Netanyahu in his book “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.”

“I was offended by his glibness and his criticism of U.S. policy — not to mention his arrogance and outlandish ambition — and I told national security adviser Brent Scowcroft that Bibi ought not be allowed back on White House grounds.” Gates wrote.

On the other hand, Gates said he felt very close to Ehud Barak, who was former Defense Minister and was Prime Minister for less than two years.

The old idiom “you are known by the company you keep” speaks volumes about Gates. Barak was up to his neck in making deals with the military industrial complex and served as an adviser for defense firms after his first fallout with the Labor party following his landslide loss in his re-election bid against Ariel Sharon in 2001.

Gates’ loathing of Netanyahu continues to this day. He wrote in his new book, “I, as a very strong friend and supporter of Israel, believe Jerusalem needs to think anew about its strategic environment. That would require developing stronger relationships with governments that, while not allies, share Israel’s concerns in the region, including those about Iran and the growing political influence of Islamists in the wake of the Arab Spring. … Given a Palestinian birthrate that far outpaces that of Israeli Jews, and the political trends in the region, time is not on Israel’s side.”

If he had his facts right, he would know that  statement about the birth rate simply is not true.

Ehud Barak’s apartment in the exclusive Akirov Towers. It’s an expensive neighborhood to rent in for a simple Marine guard.

The US spy scandal goes from bad to worse according to a Yediot Achronot report that says the US rented an apartment across the street from then Defense Minister Barak, apparently to spy on him.

The apartment housed a single US Marine, whom Israeli Intelligence noted in 2007 had brought in an unusually large amount of electronic equipment into his apartment. The US claims the marine was simply an embassy guard.

In light of all the spying the US has been doing on Israel, Israeli officials have been calling for the release of Jonathan Pollard.

In response to the murder of IDF soldier Gabriel Kobi on Sunday, in Hebron, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given orders to act immediately and permit the return of Jewish residents to the “Patriarch House” in Hebron.

Netanyahu said, “Whoever tries to uproot us from the city of our forefathers will achieve the opposite. With one hand we will fight terror, and hurt the terrorists, and we will continue with the other hand to strengthen the settlements.”

Under the previous government, former Defense Minister Ehud Barak evicted the Jewish residents of the “Patriarch House”, with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s tacit approval. A court determined that the sale of the “Patriarch House” to the Jews of Hebron was legal, but they required the Defense Minister’s signature, which wasn’t forthcoming.

The Hebron Jewish community blessed the Prime Minister’s decision to restore Jewish residency in the legally purchased property. The community added that the government is fulfilling their historical and moral duty to return Jews to the city of our forefathers, and should take all necessary steps. Security should be increased so that Sgt. Gabriel Kobi is the last victim.

If and when Jewish residents are actually allowed back into “Patriarch House”, we’ll let you know.

Only one question remains, why did a soldier need to be killed for Netanyahu to finally correct this injustice he permitted in his previous government?

Two and half years after then Defense Minister Ehud Barak removed the Har Bracha yeshiva from the Hesder program, the new Defense Minister, Moshe “Boogie” Ya’alon reinstated them.

Ehud Barak kicked the Yeshiva out of Hesder following statements by the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, where he said that he supported not following all army orders in certain circumstances, and refused to retract that statement.

In the Hesder program, National-Religious men combine a year and a half of army service with three and a half years of Torah study.

Ya’alon added two additional yeshivas were added to the Hesder program.

Israel should consider unilateral steps to separate itself from the Palestinian Authority should peace talks fail, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Sunday.

“We should consider unilateral steps in order to place a wedge on this extremely dangerous slippery slope to a bi-national state,” Barak said at AIPAC’s policy conference in Washington.

Such steps would include dismantling settlements beyond the separation barrier and maintaining a military presence in the Jordan Valley, along the West Bank-Jordan border, a move which PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has rejected.

Israel carried out a unilateral “disengagement”  in 2005 by expelling all Jews from their communities in Gaza and removing the IDF from the region.

Barak, who is leaving government, has until now been the chief advocate within the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for advancing talks and making concessions to the Palestinian Authority.

Barak praised Netanyahu for being a “courageous” advocate for peace, noting his settlement building-freeze in 2010, and that the failure of the talks was “mostly” the fault of the Palestinians.

Turning to Iran, Barak brought up the military option to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “All options must be on the table – we expect all those who say it to mean it,” he said.

Vice President Joe Biden will speak next Monday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, just as Iran’s nuclear program is taking center stage once again, with rumors that it is closer than ever to producing a nuclear weapon.

Israel has been insisting that Iran’s nuclear program poses an existential threat which must be stopped by any means available, including a military strike. Biden will undoubtedly express the U.S. most current policy regarding this threat.

The Obama administration has expressed its preference for a diplomatic solution, but also committed to military intervention should all the other means fail.

President Barack Obama, who addressed group last year, will visit Israel later this month and will, therefore, skip the AIPAC meeting this year.

The annual AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement. Thousands of participants come from all 50 states to take part in “three of the most important days affecting Israel’s future,” as the organization’s website puts it.

The 2013 conference will be held March 3-5, in Washington, D.C. AIPAC has published the names of the speakers who will appear at its podium next week, with the following VIPs topping the list:

The Honorable Joe Biden

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak,

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird

House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (R-TX)

House of Representatives Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Senate Armed Services Committee Member John McCain (R-AZ)

Senate Armed Services Committee Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

Ambassador Dennis Ross

Elliott Abrams

This is one of those political scoops that would make anyone on the right within Likud-Beiteinu cringe, grimace, sigh—even a few molars would probably be gnashed. Which is why a senior Likud minister (they never just come out and identify themselves) told reporter Zeev Kam of Maariv that Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheming to keep Defense Minister Ehud Barak in his post, despite the fact that Barak has already announced his resignation from political life (leaving his sliver-party’s couple of MKs hanging in the wind).

“Have you noticed how Barak has gone underground recently, to convey to Likud voters that he is out of the game?” the senior Likudnik told Maariv. Well, Barak’s “going underground” has been accompanied by several uncharacteristic moves on the part of the outgoing Defense Minister.

There were the announcements of construction approvals in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, which Barak did not object to publicly and in some of the cases actually gave his own approval to continued construction.

“All of a sudden, after so many years of resistance, he (Barak) also gives an order to upgrade Ariel College to a university,” the anonymous cabinet minister added. “These things are never a coincidence. It’s a systematic ploy to prepare the Likud supporters for the possibility of getting Barak for a second term.”

Other Likud sources have also estimated on Sunday that the chances have increased that after the elections Netanyahu will turn to Barak and ask him to stay in Defense – a move that could shake up the entire party.

Barak is one of the least popular figures among Likud’s Knesset list and its government ministers. He is loathed not by the pro-settler MKs but also by senior ministers such as former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon, who has been eyeing Defense for some time now.

Another senior source inside Likud told Maariv: “We are on a downslide in the polls, losing out to HaBayit HaYehudi, and the talk in recent days inside the party that Barak will be defense minister in the next government, too, could bring us down another notch.”

The same source added that “should Likud voters learn that Barak is the next defense minister, and the chances for that have increased recently, our situation will be very bad. We’ll be ushering in Naftali Bennett with 20 seats.”

On the other hand, other Likud sources have pointed out that at least the political process of appointing Barak would be difficult and complicated. “The number of seats won by Likud-Beiteinu is expected to be smaller, compared to the previous election, but the number of MKs who see themselves as candidates to serve as ministers is actually larger,” those other sources told Maariv. “Which means it would be next to impossible politically to launch such a move and get it passed through the party apparatus.”

The Likud-Beiteinu campaign spokesperson’s office, as well as Minister Moshe Yaalon’s office have denied the rumors, and stated that they did not engage in speculations. Barak’s office said they had no comment.