TEL AVIV, Israel (VINnews) — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said he regrets not exercising “better judgment” in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein but denied any knowledge of the disgraced financier’s sexual crimes before 2019.

In an interview aired Thursday on Israel’s Channel 12, Barak addressed newly released recordings and documents detailing his ties to Epstein, with whom he maintained social and business contacts for years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor.

“I am responsible for all my actions and decisions,” Barak said. “There is certainly room to ask whether I should have exercised more careful judgment. I regret the moment I met him in 2003.”

Barak said that until Epstein’s arrest in 2019 and the renewed investigation into his activities, he believed Epstein had served his sentence and been accepted back into elite U.S. social circles.

“Only in 2019 did the truly abhorrent nature of his crimes become clear,” he said. “At that point, I cut off contact.”

Barak confirmed that he and his wife stayed on multiple occasions at a New York apartment owned by Epstein, describing it as a matter of convenience while traveling. He denied any financial impropriety and said he never witnessed or participated in inappropriate conduct.

“I never saw any improper behavior, and I certainly never participated in anything of that sort,” he said.

Barak also addressed recently published recordings in which he discussed immigration policy and referred to bringing “high-quality” immigrants to Israel. Critics described the remarks as racist and disparaging toward earlier waves of immigrants from North Africa and Arab countries.

Barak rejected that characterization, saying his comments were taken out of context and referred to differences between emergency refugee absorption in Israel’s early years and modern voluntary immigration systems.

“There was no racism,” he said. “I did not grade communities.”

He acknowledged that additional materials related to his association with Epstein could emerge but insisted they would not reveal any criminal conduct.

“I regret that I did not exercise more discretion,” Barak said. “But there is nothing illegal and nothing improper.”