In 1997, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak delivered a public apology to Israel’s Sephardim for the poor treatment they received at the hands of the Labor party in the early decades of the State of Israel. And now, 20 years later, Barak apologized and took responsibility for the events of October 2000, in an interview with Kan Bet on July 23. That was when the Israel Police shot and killed 12 Arab citizens (and a non-Israeli Palestinian) during riots that erupted when then-Likud leader Ariel Sharon ascended the Temple Mount, leading to the onset of the second intifada.

This time, as well, Barak apologized on the eve of elections with the goal of removing barriers and “making friends” with the populaces needed to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Last time, Barak apologized in his name and the name of the Labor party, which he headed. Now, he apologizes in his own name alone. This time, he’s not the one who’s supposed to depose Netanyahu. There are other candidates for that task, former chief of staffs like him. This time, the only thing he’s trying to do is enable his new party (the Israel Democratic Party) to merge with Meretz, to cross the electoral threshold on Sept. 17 and avert a critical loss of mandates that might allow Netanyahu to survive.

“I really bear responsibility for everything that took place during my tenure as prime minister, including the events of October [2000],” Barak said. “I do not absolve myself of responsibility. It is forbidden for such things to happen.”

We are 55 days from the elections, which are (again) labeled as fateful for the future of Israel. We are also about a week from the closing of the lists on Aug. 1. Israel’s political map is undergoing an accelerated evolution. Both right and left are making desperate, against-the-clock attempts to unite as many small parties as possible with the goal of averting what happened to the right in the last elections: Small parties did not cross the electoral threshold, leading to a critical loss of votes.