Ehud Barak officially unveiled the name of his new party on his Facebook page Saturday night – calling it the Israel Democratic Party.
"The State of Israel is at a moment before the total dissolution of Israeli democracy. Now is the time to return hope and courage to Israel, to unite and return Israel to the right track. We are a Democratic Israel," Barak tweeted, alongside a picture of a red, white and blue campaign poster.
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The literal translation of the Hebrew name is "Democratic Israel" but party officials told reporters that Barak, a former premier, asked for it to be named the "Israel Democratic Party" in English, so it would have a more international and worldly name.
Barak has already announced that former IDF deputy chief of staff Yair Golan, former Kulanu MK Yifat Biton, entrepreneur Kobi Richter, and former Labor party member Yaya Fink would join him in his new political venture.
Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's granddaughter, Noa Rothman, also said she would be part of Barak's effort to fight against the "radicalization of Israel."
A poll published Friday gave Barak's party just four Knesset seats out of 120 after the September 17 elections.
The decision on the name faced immediate criticism from across the political spectrum.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein took to Twitter to criticize Barak, saying that "democracy begins with democratic procedure within the party. You do not have to learn from the Likud alone; you can learn from the party you left and destroyed, too. Remember?"
Former Jerusalem Mayor and Likud MK Nir Barkat said, "There is only one party in the Israeli democracy that is truly democratic and with the ability to lead the country and the nation and it is the Likud."
Former Labor MK Eitan Cabel said Barak's party can't be called democratic if it is not a democratic party.
"It is a party where the decisions are made by one man," Cabel said. "He always thought of himself in grandiose terms without any content behind him."
Democrats Abroad Israel Chairperson Heather Stone said the name was "misleading, because Democrats Abroad has a country committee in Israel and Democrats Abroad is an arm of the Democratic Party."
The organization says it serves as "a home for Democrats residing in Israel. We are concerned with registering voters and keeping them informed on what is happening with the Democratic Party back home in the USA."
