Former Mossad director Tamir Pardo says internal polarization leading Israel to civil war

File photo of former Mossad director Tamir Pardo

Former Mossad director Tamir Pardo has warned that growing polarization in the Israeli society is leading up to a civil war.

Pardo’s Tuesday comments were his first public ones since he stepped down as the Israeli spy agency’s director earlier in the year.

“If a divided society goes beyond a certain point, you can end up, in extreme circumstances, with phenomena like civil war. To my regret, the distance [until we reach that point] is shrinking. I fear that we are going in that direction,” he said.

He refrained from assigning blame to any single leader or political party or further elaborating on the manner of divisions he was referring to.

“There are some for whom it’s comfortable to emphasize that which divides and not that which unites. I can’t put my finger on a group or a leader. It exists within all the country’s groups,” he said.

He also broached on the subject of the so-called two-state solution, noting that an independent Palestinian state would be vastly beneficial to region-wide peace throughout Middle East, and that such a plan would ultimately be implemented.

"In my opinion, we won't be able to reach any agreement with any country beyond what we have now if we don't solve the Palestinian issue," he said.

Tel Aviv’s illegal settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian lands is a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East.