Likud and the Blue and White traded fresh barbs on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was caught on tape directing the leak of Blue & White campaign strategist who said the party's leader Benny Gantz is unfit for the job of premier.
Channel 12 revealed a tape where Netanyahu could be heard discussing the leak that got the strategist fired with the rabbi who taped Israel Bachar on tape.
The conversation, where the rabbi and an unidentified speaker are heard telling Netanyahu that Bachar's voice will not be altered in the recording when it is published, was reportedly captured a day before its publication.
The PM, however, repeatedly claimed he had nothing to do with the leaked tape and was not familiar with the rabbi who released the recording
The report prompted Gantz to lash out at Netanyahu, accusing him of lying and of waging a 'campaign of hate'; in separate comments, Gantz also said Netanyahu was using mafia-style tactics and was a man who has "no red lines".
Likud, in its turn, said that nobody made Gantz's strategist speak in the terms he chose and that the reports were nothing but an attempt to obfuscate the essence of the story.