Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is either complicit in leaking classified information in an attempt to thwart the hostage deal, or he is completely incompetent to lead the country, Opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Sunday night.
“If Netanyahu knew, he is complicit in one of the most serious security breaches in the law book. If Netanyahu didn't know, what does he know?” Lapid asked during a joint press conference he held with National Unity Party head Benny Gantz.
“It is suspected that Netanyahu's people published secret documents and falsified documents in order to torpedo the possibility of a hostage deal, in order to build a public relations campaign against the families of the hostages.”
This security breach came “out of the Prime Minister's office,” and an investigation should be held to see if the security leaks and falsification of information were done at Netanyahu’s order, Lapid said.
Netanyahu has claimed that he “has no influence or control over the system he leads. If that's true… he is not qualified to lead the State of Israel in the most difficult war in its history,” Lapid charged.
Gantz has criticism
Gantz said that the security breach wasn’t about leaked documents. It was about the “withholding of state secrets for political purposes. If sensitive security information is stolen and becomes a tool in a political survival campaign - this is not only a criminal offense, it is a national crime,” Gantz charged.
“The stealing classified intelligence information by an official in the prime minister's office is a black line, period,” Gantz said.