Ehud Barak lets out his inner Jerry Seinfeld

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy this morning, gave a tour d’horizon of Israel’s current strategic position in the Middle East — and also managed in the process to draw on some of the best traditions of Jewish comedy.

It all began when Barak took issue with Iranian ambitions in the Middle East, and specifically Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s remark in Damascus that Arab nations will transform the region into an area "without Zionists and without colonialists." Barak riffed that Ahmadinejad was "looking for a ‘New Middle East’ — it reminds me of [Israeli President] Shimon Peres," playing on the title of his former Labor Party ally’s book.

This wasn’t the only point where Barak drew a few laughs on issues that are rarely mined for their comedic potential. When tackling the subject of Iranian nuclear ambitions, Barak poured cold water on the idea that Iran would drop a nuke on Israel shortly after constructing its first weapon. "They’re radical, but they’re not total meshugenahs," he said of the Iranian leadership, proving that the mixture of yiddish and Persian military expansionism, while explosive, is also sort of amusing.

But Barak did not limit his comedic debut to remarks about Iran — he also took aim at the domestic political opposition in Israel. When asked about the prospects for a negotiated settlement with the Palestinian Authority or Syria, he criticized elements on the Israeli left who were attempting to delay talks because they did not have a role in the current Netanyahu government. He recounted the apocryphal story of an Israeli airman who was cut from the air force; after delivering this bad news, his superiors asked him what service he would like to join, and he stated that he wanted to be a member of the anti-aircraft artillery corps. When asked why, he stated, "’If I can’t fly, then nobody can fly." The peace process, Barak was saying, needs supporters — not more people manning the anti-aircraft guns trying to shoot it down.

These remarks, of course, were all in good fun — but there’s more to it than that. Barak’s central message was that Israel will only find peace with its neighbors when it is a strong, self-confident state. It should be capable of possessing a clear-eyed view of the threats it faces, and able to take risks for peace, Barak argued. His point was that, though Israel will no doubt confront a number of difficult challenges in the year ahead, the situation was by no means dire — it was even possible to make a few jokes about it. By taking this approach, Barak was the latest in a long line of public figures who discovered the serious implications of a little comedic timing. Lenny Bruce would be proud.