Gantz and Bennett
Gantz and BennettYonatan Sindel/Flash90

A very senior official in the government on Monday spoke out against Defense Minister Benny Gantz following his meeting with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

"Gantz only cares about his own political interests and has not yet changed course to adapt to the new government. He is behaving like a government within a government," the senior official charged.

"If the meeting was for security purposes, why did he issue a press release? This deviated from the early agreement that there would be no media festival around the meeting. If the government falls it will be because of him," the senior official told Channel 12 News.

Sources close to Gantz said in response, "This is simply not true. The meeting was of security importance, it was coordinated and approved and was done in a low profile and the proof of that is that no picture was published after it."