Tel Aviv: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has apologised for his years-long friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that included regular correspondence, multiple visits to the disgraced financier’s Manhattan apartment and one to his private island.
The former Israeli leader has not been implicated in Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls and faces no accusations of wrongdoing.
In an exclusive interview with Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday, he said he regretted having ever known Epstein and apologised to all those “who feel deeply uncomfortable.”
“I am responsible for all my actions and decisions, and there is definitely room to ask if there wasn’t room for more in-depth judgment on my part and a more thorough examination of what the details really are, what exactly happened there,” he said.
Barak is among several political, business and cultural elites found to have maintained long relationships with Epstein, even after his 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in Florida.
Epstein died by suicide in detention in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal allegations of sexually abusing and trafficking dozens of girls.
Barak, who has previously distanced himself from Epstein, gave the latest interview after millions of pages of documents were released by the US Justice Department in connection with its investigations of Epstein.
Barak and his wife, Nili, have turned up frequently in the documents, showing they stayed in regular contact with Epstein for years, including after he cut a deal with prosecutors in 2008 that resulted in an 18-month prison sentence.
He has acknowledged visiting Epstein numerous times, flying on his private plane and staying at his New York apartment when he was out of public office. Barak said he and his wife and some security guards paid a three-hour visit to Epstein’s home in the US Virgin Islands, but saw only Epstein and some maintenance workers there.
Barak said he never observed or took part in any inappropriate behaviour. He said he was aware of the earlier Epstein case but assumed he had paid his debt to society.
“Only in 2019, when a reinvestigation of the whole story begins, does the breadth and depth of the man’s heinous crimes become apparent and I cut off relations with him, and everyone cuts off relations with him,” Barak said.
Barak served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001, when Israel and the Palestinians held high-level peace talks before the process collapsed and a Palestinian uprising broke out. He later served as defense minister.
His ties to Epstein came to light seven years ago after Barak announced a political comeback in an unsuccessful bid to topple Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At the time, US tax records showed Barak received some $2 million in grants for unspecified “research” the previous decade from the Wexner Foundation — a philanthropic organisation that supports Jewish causes. At the time, Epstein was a trustee of the foundation.
Barak downplayed those ties when they surfaced, saying Epstein “didn’t support me or pay me.”