Former Israeli PM Barak's regret over Epstein

Ehud Barak said he regrets meeting billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in prison while awaiting trial in the U.S. on charges of establishing a sex trafficking ring involving underage girls.

"I regret meeting him in 2003," Barak stated, adding that he completely severed ties with Epstein in 2019 after the "repulsive scale" of his crimes was revealed.

Noting that he was aware Epstein had been tried and served one year in prison in 2008, Barak stated that despite this, the "American political, business, academic, and cultural elite" treated Epstein as someone who had served his sentence and returned to society.

In response to a question regarding his and his wife's use of an apartment in New York owned by Epstein, Barak stated that he was not prime minister at the time and argued that there was nothing wrong with staying at the home of someone he considered a friend.

The controversial conversation between Barak and Epstein:

In an audio recording released with the latest wave of Epstein files, Barak can be heard saying that "Israel could easily take another million immigrants from Russian-speaking countries."

The phrase "Tall, thin, young, and beautiful girls will come" in the audio recording drew public backlash, while Barak admitted that these words were an "unfortunate choice of words and metaphor" but argued that they were taken out of context.

"This was not an official speech, it was a private conversation," said Barak, claiming that the released recording was a distorted version of the conversation that had been cut and edited.

It was revealed through the newly released audio recording that Barak had spoken with Epstein about paving the way for mass conversion to Judaism and Israel's "need" for a wave of one million immigrants from Russia.

News Source: 12punto