Moshe Ya'alon
Moshe Ya'alonFlash 90

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon continued to levy criticism about the conduct of the security cabinet during Operation Protective Edge on Wednesday, noting that the Cabinet's infighting likely prolonged the war.

"After two weeks they understood and internalized that there was a ceasefire," Ya'alon, referring to Hamas, stated in an interview with Galei Yisrael radio.  "But someone said to them, 'look how divided they are! They are about to collapse - why stop the [rocket] fire now?"

"It is impossible to downplay how crucial and damaging this was," he added.

This is not the first time that Ya'alon has been critical of the security cabinet during the fifty-day conflict. Last month, he chided its ministers for their conduct during the war. 

"You're sitting in a room, people express themselves - and then it becomes politics," he said. "I hope the ministers for the first time experience what responsibility is and will learn lessons [from it]."

"I have never seen a Cabinet like this - and I have been in Cabinets now for 20 years," he continued. "It cannot be during an operation, when we bury our dead, to give [the enemy] the sense that we are losing."

Operation Protective Edge saw deep divides within the security cabinet, with much of the drama played out in Israeli media as the outcome of the war hung in the balance.