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Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced yesterday that he was forming a new political party to compete in the September elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv, Barak said: “[Benjamin] Netanyahu is at the end of his road. Even his best associates know this, as do his faction mates and cabinet members. Most of them, unfortunately, have been gripped by paralysis and fear.”

The 77-year-old former defence minister and IDF chief of staff was joined by three candidates, former deputy chief of staff Maj.-Gen. (res) Yair Golan, Prof. Yifat Shasha-Biton, and businessman Kobi Richter.

Barak issued a warning about a Netanyahu victory in September, saying: “Netanyahu’s Government with the fanatical messianists, his corrupt leadership, and his regime must be brought down, not saved. The future of the entire Zionist enterprise is at stake, we have to get into the arena, to speak sharply and clearly, to fight resolutely and win.” Addressing Netanyahu directly, Barak said: “As your former commander, I am telling you — you cannot continue to hold onto the reins of power. Both for your own good, and for the good of the country and for everything that you contributed to it throughout your life. Your time as a political leader is over. Trying to evade justice could end badly.”

Barak was also critical of the Blue and White party for its performance in the April election: “Your campaign lacked the energy, the focus, the drive and the glint in your eyes,” Barak said, although he described them as his former soldiers and called for a wide movement of Israelis to come together to defeat Netanyahu.

The Likud party said: “We are not interfering in how the Left divides up its seats between Ehud Barak, [Blue and White leaders] Lapid and Gantz.”

Barak was Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 until 2001 and Defence Minister from 2007-2013. He served in Netanyahu’s Government from 2009-2013.

A Channel 13 poll published yesterday gave Barak’s as yet unnamed party six seats, with Likud and Blue and White tied on 32.

Israeli media reported this morning that the rumours of a move by Netanyahu to cancel the 17 September elections is a ruse to lure the Blue and White party into a national unity government. A senior right-wing source told Maariv: “This is a fantasy … the attorney general and the Knesset legal advisor have already made it clear that at least 80 Knesset members are required to cancel elections.”