Benny Gantz
Benny GantzSpokesperson

Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday evening commented on the fact that he was not invited to join the signing ceremony of the peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates to take place in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

"It is fine that the Prime Minister traveled to Washington without me. I do not have to sit there as an extra and applaud. I have a lot of work to do here," Gantz said in an interview on Kan 11 News.

The Minister also commented on the lockdown during the Tishrei holidays and said, "We need to make sure that the rate of infection is steadily declining and that we are able to control infection trends, in order to get out of the quarantine.”

He responded to criticism of the conduct of the epidemiological investigations, saying, "The Home Front Command's system in Ramla is already working efficiently, there are hundreds of investigators and thousands of tests a day. The extent of the infections that need to be investigated needs to be reduced in order to control the spread of the virus. I believe in our ability to deal with the pandemic, and I believe we can bring it to a controlled extent and even live a coronavirus routine until a vaccine is found."

The Defense Minister also commented on the calls that an investigation be launched against the State Attorney's Office due to its conduct in the Umm al-Hiran affair.

"The justice system is not immune from scrutiny. However, we have a good justice system and law enforcement system in Israel and we need to protect it," he said.