Defense Minister Benny Gantz made a statement in response to criticism of his recent meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas', saying "whoever does not send soldiers off to battle, and whoever does not show responsibility for the lives of Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers - better not criticize meetings that prevented and continue to prevent the next war and bring stability and freedom of national action upon us.
"Thanks to the security coordination carried out at the field levels, by the heads of the security directorates and myself - there are many civilians and lives that were saved," he continued. "Whoever wants to turn away and ignore the complicated security and national situation - is unfit to take the wheal and lead the State of Israel."
This is following Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party post on Twitter reading that "Abbas' Holocaust denial is shocking and dangerous, and the obsessive cooperation of Lapid and Gantz with him and his followers is equally dangerous."