Ya’alon: Gaza war quarrel must not repeat itself

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Saturday welcomed a Friday reconciliation meeting between Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen and IDF Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz following the two security officials’ public spat, and said such an event “must not repeat itself.”

“The rift created between the organizations over the past week was bad for Israel, and it is good that the incident was cleared up by the Shin Bet head and the IDF chief of staff,” Ya’alon said in an official statement.

Ya’alon stressed that disputes on issues of national security must be settled internally, away from the public eye.

“The right place to clarify any arguments on matters so critical and confidential to the state, is in a closed room, and we must pay heed to this,” said Ya’alon.

The squabble began when a Channel 2 investigative report aired statements by a senior Shin Bet agent who said the organization had received information in January of Hamas preparations for a war against Israel in July. This alert, he claimed, had been conveyed to Israeli leaders. The IDF insisted it had received no such specific warning, and the Shin Bet gradually walked back the claim amid open accusation and counter-accusation between the two services.

After several days of tensions, Cohen and Gantz said Friday that they resolved the disagreement between them. During a meeting at Gantz’s home in Rosh Ha’ayin, the two said they had decided to put the whole affair behind them.

Cohen stressed to Gantz that members of his agency never meant to imply that the IDF was negligent during the 50-day Operation Protective Edge in July and August.

Following the meeting, a joint statement was released emphasizing that the “differences were resolved,” and the two agreed on “steps to deepen the cooperation between the organizations for the sake of Israeli national security.” They also set up a joint committee to delineate respective areas of responsibility regarding the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, a senior cabinet minister was quoted by Channel 10 News saying that Cohen had “tried to create a false narrative” over what had occurred in the run-up to the summer conflict, and reported that there was considerable criticism of Cohen’s behavior.

“The behavior of the Shin Bet head is problematic,” the unnamed senior minister was quoted by Channel 10 as saying. “The exposure of material on TV is a scandal. It harmed sources and methods of operation. The Shin Bet is supposed to protect and not be seen,” he said

Other defense officials cited in the Channel 10 report accused Cohen of setting back the Shin Bet in terms of sharing information with other organizations. They said that whereas IDF intelligence is open to the Shin Bet, that approach is not reciprocated and the agency picks and chooses what to share with military intelligence.

Earlier Friday, Cohen and Gantz came under harsh criticism by former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin, who accused them of behaving “like squabbling preschool children.”

“Sadly, from my experience, this will cause damage, severe [damage] even, since the atmosphere between the organizations and their leaders greatly affects the quality of cooperation and the results on the ground,” Diskin wrote on his Facebook page.

Diskin found fault with both officials’ conduct, saying that the Shin Bet should not have gone public with its version of events — which are still being analyzed and reviewed — and that the response of the Israel Defense Forces had been been patronizing and “hypocritical.”

Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.