"Tamir Pardo says Israeli government is in the grip of 'extreme lunatics' and 'horrible racists'... The former head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad said on Thursday that his country's government is in the grip of extremist factions that are "a lot worse" than the Ku Klux Klan.... Pardo, who served Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as head of Mossad from 2011 to 2016, said that by inviting Ben Gvir, Smotrich and other far-right politicians to join his coalition, Netanyahu had taken the Israeli equivalent of the "Ku Klux Klan and brought it into the government". Pardo said that Netanyahu is responsible for Israel's current polarisation, adding that the prime minister is leading a coalition government made up of "extreme lunatics"."