Report: Cabinet picked up bickering where it left off last week
News reports indicate that ministers continued to squabble at a security cabinet meeting last night, a week after a similar meeting reportedly ended in a shouting match as lawmakers and military brass argued over plans for a probe into the army’s failings leading up to October 7.
According to some reports, Likud’s David Amsalem took aim at National Unity party head Benny Gantz, accusing him of yelling and leaking details of the meeting to the media.
Gantz responded that he was not the leaker and would take a polygraph test to prove it.
According to Channel 12 news, after Amsalem told Gantz to stop screwing around with him, Netanyahu got on his feet and told Amsalem to cut it out.
The channel also reports that Likud’s Miri Regev continued to harp over the plans for a probe into the army’s failings, after leading criticism a week earlier over the decision to announce the investigation despite fighting in Gaza ongoing.
“You owe me an answer over whether the probe will cover until October 7 or from October 7,” she told IDF head Herzi Halevi, according to the report.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who has backed the probe, answered her that he was dealing with it, to which she responded that he should be sure to bring the decision about the probe to the cabinet for approval, the channel says.
The Ynet news site reports that Otzma Yehudit party head Itamar Ben Gvir also tried to go after Gallant, saying he had been pushing for a year for the army to assassinate terror leaders, a policy the military had largely desisted from in the past decade.
According to the report, Gallant shot back, “Just because you were questioned by the Shin Bet doesn’t mean you understand intelligence.”
Ben Gvir was investigated by the security service over suspected terror activity in his youth.
Ynet also reports that Regev brought popcorn and passed it around as a joke when the caterwauling kicked off.