Israel's Barak says he regrets knowing Epstein after documents detail their long friendship

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News/AP

Feb. 13, 2026, 4:35 PM EST


TEL AVIV, Israel — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has apologized for his yearslong 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 apologized 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 appears in several documents

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 U.S. Justice Department in connection with its investigations of Epstein.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/israel/israels-barak-says-regrets-knowing-epstein-documents-detail-long-frien-rcna259004

[2naSalit]

1. Too bad for him...

One of his victims, rest her soul, has already described what he did to her on several occasions. You can't get ahead of a horse that has left the barn years ago.

[Buddyzbuddy]

2. Yeah, blame the dead degenerate for your perverted proclivities.

Sounds like someone else we know.
Pigs, every single one of them. No offense to pigs intended.

[Roy Rolling]

3. Another "fu*k him" response

His apology to those who “feel deeply uncomfortable”?

Yeah, that’s it. Chummy relationships with pseudo-foreign operatives, pedos, and American oligarch-wannabes by the Israeli Prime Minister hurts my feelings.

So, might I add “sociopath” to his lengthy résumé. He just doesn’t get it.

[2naSalit]

4. I wish...

That all these pedos and rapists would end up suffering from exactly the same abuse they inflicted on their victims.

Exactly the same abuses.

[Irish_Dem]

5. "Regrets" the relationship? How about being remorseful, ashamed, horrified.

Last edited Sat Feb 14, 2026, 07:25 AM - Edit history (1)

Guess that is a bridge too far for child rapists.

[PatSeg]

11. The lack of genuine remorse is appalling

"Regrets" reads more like he is only sorry he got caught.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Exactly. He is only sorry he got caught.

[BattleRow]

18. Sending regrets that he can no longer attend..

[mahina]

6. " I deeply regret that this long friendship forged over

Many years of brutality has been exposed”.

Fix it!

(Not you OP)

[mackdaddy]

7. I am sure Virginia Roberts Giuffre regretted Meeting HIM.

Since she said he attacked her so violently Maxwell/Epstein had to take her to the hospital afterward per her book.

[spooky3]

23. How can the author of this piece say he was "not implicated"? She very clearly implicated him, without providing names,

as I understand it. If the author means he's never been charged, well, neither have a lot of other people named in the documents, but that does not mean that they are innocent.

[Bohunk68]

8. I call Putinfluffer, The Pedo Pimp.

That is what he is and what he should be called, but I have been told by some web sites that is against community standards. Tells you just what the "standards" are, nothing more than protecting the pedophiles and their pimps.

[Sanity Claws]

9. He just regrets getting caught

Virginia Guffrie (spelling?) indicated that he raped her violently. That is not regretting a friendship. He participated in the criminal acts and regrets getting caught.

[niyad]

10. May he receive everything he deserves.

[paleotn]

12. faces no accusations....well, he wasn't there for the food and conversation.

[AllyCat]

13. He doesn't regret raping children

But definitely regrets getting caught.

This is what this sounds like to me.

[BattleRow]

14. Does anyone think this Epstein network has ceased to exist?

[pandr32]

16. No.

[lanlady]

28. Not at all

It’s just gone underground

[pandr32]

15. So at a certain class are there few people to be friends with?

[dlk]

17. Barack regrets getting caught

Nothing more.

[SergeStorms]

20. Everyone regrets.......

knowing people or doing things who get caught. Well........................................almost everyone.
Except for The Big Orange Fascist Pig. 🐖 He has no moral compass; empathy, sympathy, sincerity, shame, fairness, they're completely foreign to him and are looked at as weaknesses. His mind hasn't progressed one iota since he was a teenager.
What a wasted life. He only views success as money and power. I wouldn't trade places with him for all of his ill-gotten gains.

[aggiesal]

21. Israel's Barak says he regrets knowing Epstein ... because he got caught. ...

There I fixed it.

[twodogsbarking]

22. I regret knowing him. From whom have I heard that one before. They need that on a hat.

[waddirum]

24. This is 100% untrue

“The former Israeli leader has not been implicated in Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls and faces no accusations of wrongdoing.”

He was accused of rape by Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/woman-says-epstein-forced-her-to-have-sex-with-former-pm-barak/

[Deep State Witch]

25. Yeah, I'm sure he regrets

R@ping teenaged girls.

[greatauntoftriplets]

26. Oh boo hoo.

What a crybaby.

[lanlady]

27. He was the unnamed prime minister

In Giuffre’s memoir who got off on violence and physically abused the girls. Really badly. He was also outed in recent accounts as Epstein’s spymaster. Barak is as much to blame for these crimes as Epstein.