Finance Minister (Kulanu) and member of the Political-Security Cabinet Moshe Kahlon has taken a side in the dispute between IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott and Bayit Yehudi party chairman, Minister Naftali Bennet, who is also a member of the Political-Security Cabinet.

Kahlon stated he relies on Eizenkott, adding, “Eizenkott doesn’t have voters, and therefore, he acts matter-of-factly.

Yesterday in the cabinet, I heard the discussion and took part.

One of the disputes taking place is the leaking of information from the Political-Security Cabinet, with many pointing a finger of blame at Bennet. Bennet adamantly denies the leaks are coming from him.

“I trust our chief of staff. The chief of staff cannot get on the air [radio], so I chose to say it, and as soon as you see what emerges from the cabinet, you see that we are in a position to respond and let the chief of staff take the lead.”

In addition, Kahlon said he believed that those responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza should be Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, not the State of Israel: “There are disagreements among the security forces, and I support the fact that whoever is responsible for managing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is the Egyptians and the Palestinian Authority. Hamas and the extremists: Hamas wants to bring in concrete and iron, not food, not medicine. I have not seen that there are [edible] proteins in the concrete and iron [being imported into Gaza].”

The finance minister added that “we are not to blame for anything that is happening there … Hamas is acting cynically; the Qataris are transferring money to Hamas to strengthen terrorism.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)