Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, unexpectedly announced his retirement from politics on Monday days after overseeing his country's latest offensive.
Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, unexpectedly announced his retirement from politics on Monday days after overseeing his country's latest offensive.
It cast new uncertainty over any future strike against Iran's nuclear programme.
Barak, 70, one of Israel's most decorated soldiers and a former prime minister, declared at a news conference that he would not stand as a candidate in January's general election and would step down as defence minister as soon as a new government was formed, to enable him to spend more time with his family.
"I feel I have exhausted dealing with political life, which has never been a passion of mine, and I feel there is room to allow other people to serve in senior roles in Israel," Barak said. "There are many ways to contribute to the state, politics isn't the only one."
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, with whom he had forged a close political relationship, praised his "great contribution" to the Israeli Defence Forces and in the government "on matters that are very important to the security of Israeli citizens and the state."
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist organisation that runs Gaza, gleefully touted Mr Barak's announcement as proof of the failure of the recent eight-day Israeli military action against the territory.
Israeli opinion polls showed Barak's popularity had improved as a result of the offensive. Previously, his tiny Atzmaut (Independence) party had been on course to win no seats in the election. He formed a hawkish united front with Netanyahu towards Iran's atomic programme, deeming it a threat to Israel's existence and arguing for military action before it became impossible to stop it building a nuclear bomb.
The unity cracked after Barak said last month that a crisis had been postponed by "eight to 10 months" because Iran had used some of its enriched uranium for civilian purposes.
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