Senior minister against IDF Spokesman: 'Confused again?'

A senior government official criticized the statement issued by the IDF spokesman on Tuesday, following the attack on Sana'a, in northern Yemen.

The army announcement stated that the operation was "approved by the commander of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff," but the government official claimed that this was a mistake, and that decisions on operations of this type are made at a different level.

"The IDF spokesman got confused again," the official told a political correspondent.” "The Prime Minister and political echelon approve military operations, not the Chief of Staff and Air Force commander."

This is the second incident in less than a day of conflict between the IDF spokesman and the political echelon. Last night, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin contradicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he said that the ultimate goal of the operation in Gaza is the return of the hostages.

Defrin said: "We believe that the action we are taking is the best method to implement the strategy determined by the political echelon. The goals of the war are to bring the hostages home and overthrow the Hamas regime."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir responded: "IDF spokesman, you are again confused by thinking that the army is above the political echelon. In a democracy, it works differently: the political echelon decides, and the army executes. The ultimate and primary goal is to overthrow Hamas, and only then can we safely return the hostages. Failure to achieve this goal first and foremost will, God forbid, lead to many more murders and kidnappings in the future. This is what the political echelon has determined – even if you don't like it."