Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the escalating crisis between Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir this evening (Tuesday).
The planned trilateral meeting that was scheduled to take place today was canceled, and instead, Netanyahu held separate meetings with both Katz and Zamir.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said: “It’s better not to listen to briefings from interested parties. The Prime Minister is determined to resolve the issues, and he will do so in the best way possible.”
During the meetings, Netanyahu sharply criticized the public statements made by Katz and Zamir. He stated that disagreements should be handled in the usual manner, not through public declarations to the media.
This is not the first time Netanyahu has addressed the attacks and tweets from the Defense Minister.
In a government meeting held two weeks ago, Netanyahu hinted at the political background to Katz's conduct, saying: “We are in an election year. The elections will take place by the end of the year, we know that, and I assume by the end of the year. But during this election period, we are witnessing a primary assault, both within Likud and outside of it. The topics being discussed are constantly part of a tweet attack, which I don’t recall being the case with security matters in the past.”