Last update - 00:00 19/06/2007
Barak takes office as defense minister in Tel Aviv ceremony
By Yuval Azoulay, Mazal Mualem and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents
Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak took over as defense minister Tuesday, in a handover ceremony at the Defense Ministry compound in Tel Aviv, a day after the Knesset approved the appointment in a 46-22 vote.
Barak and his predecessor as both defense minister and Labor leader, Amir Peretz, were greeted by an honor guard at the start of the brief ceremony, which did not include any speeches.
At the end of the ceremony, Peretz left the compound and Barak, accompanied by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and senior defense officials, headed to his office to start work.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with Barak following the ceremony, updating the new defense minister with Israel's current situation in the international arena.
Peretz said Monday that he has been "paying a dear price for the failures of the past... I have no hand in past failures but I've been told - the failures occurred on your watch, and you'll pay for everything."
Peretz has said previously that his predecessors at the Defense Ministry had not been vigilant, had made strategic mistakes and did not ensure the Israel Defense Forces were properly prepared. He also made several other accusations intended to deflect the responsibility for the failures during the Second Lebanon War.
In a parting speech Monday morning, Peretz said he believed that he had made improvements to the defense establishment during his tenure as minister.
"I think that the IDF and the defense establishment are completing this year in better shape, stronger, and more unified than before, and I would like the citizens of Israel to know that," he said.
Last week, in light of Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip, Barak sent a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asking he be made defense minister as soon as possible.
An aide to Olmert said that Barak and the prime minister met Friday and "agreed that given the situation in the Palestinian Authority, we need an experienced defense minister as soon as possible."