Benny Gantz
Benny GantzMiriam Alster/Flash 90

New Right party leader Naftali Bennett traded barbs with former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz's Hosen L'Yisrael on Saturday night.

Appearing on the Meet the Press television program, Bennett cast doubt on Gantz's security credentials and accused the decorated officer of pursuing a weak security policy vis a vis Israel's enemies.

"Benny Gantz's perception is the perception of a tie and it endangers the State of Israel," said Bennett. "We must defeat the enemy must and not let him finish the night in peace. We can't make excuses why we should escape from them."

Gantz's Hosen L'Yisrael responded that saying that "those that surrender and hand out suitcases filled with cash to Hamas would be better off keeping quiet", referring to the monthly $15 million that Israel permits Qatar to transfer to Hamas.

The New Right then called Gantz "the General of the ties" and alleged that Gantz "prefers the life of the enemy of Golani [Brigade] soldiers."

"It's better that he should tweet, he has no idea how to win," added the New Right.

The New Right's statement was referencing video footage recently unearthed in which Gantz can be seen admitting that he decided to endanger the lives of Golani Brigade soldiers during 2014's Operation Protective Edge due to fears of civilian casualties.

Bennett has criticized Gantz multiple times in recent weeks for what he says is the military officer's defeatist attitude during Operation Protective Edge. Last week, Bennett said that "Benny Gantz fell asleep standing up in dealing with the terror tunnels from Gaza, which almost led to a terrible terror disaster."

"We went to destroy the tunnels during Operation Protective Edge not because of Benny Gantz, but despite Benny Gantz. The State Comptroller's report determined that Bennett had pushed for action; Benny Gantz blocked such action."

The statement came after the Israel Resilience party distributed a series of videos under the title "Only the Strongest Win," in which Gantz boasts of eliminating Hamas Chief of Staff Ahmed Jabari and 1,364 terrorists during Operation Protective Edge, as well as destroying 6,231 targets.