Netanyahu Accuses Rivals of Receiving Iranian Support

General Moshe Ya'alon, a senior member of the Blue and White coalition, firmly rejected claims linking the hacking of their leader Benny Gantz's phone to Iran. However, Benjamin Netanyahu made unprecedented statements claiming that "Iran's support for Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid is clear." Yair Lapid, leader of the "There is a Future" party, formed the Blue and White coalition with the Israel Resilience Party led by Gantz last month, making it the strongest rival to Netanyahu's decade-long premiership. According to a report by Khabarshout, a news company of Channel 12 in Israel, senior officials from the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, told Gantz five weeks ago that "Iran has hacked his mobile phone." However, according to the Times of Israel, Moshe Ya'alon stated on Friday that "the Iranians are not responsible for this hack; they are not the ones targeting the Israeli Prime Minister's rivals." He added, "Someone has frozen the political system and sacrificed all values to maintain political superiority." Ya'alon, who has previously served as Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense and Strategic Affairs in Netanyahu's governments, said, "I know both the security institutions and the world of this Prime Minister; Shin Bet was not the source of this news leak to the media." General Ya'alon did not specify what entity hacked Gantz's phone, but the Times of Israel reported that he believes Netanyahu is involved in this incident. Gantz himself emphasized on Friday that his phone did not contain material, including sexual relationship videos, that could be used for blackmail if he were to reach a senior government position. Gantz stated that political competition should be based on fundamental values and democracy, but suddenly factors leak the issue of his phone to the media. Yair Lapid, Gantz's political partner, also stated on Friday that Netanyahu has misused sensitive security information to defame Gantz. According to Wynet, Issawi Freij, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission from the Meretz party, called on Saturday for an investigation into the hacking of Gantz's phone and the media leak of this news. The head of Shin Bet denied that his organization was involved in leaking this news to the media. In Israel, the Prime Minister is considered above the heads of Shin Bet and Mossad, but Netanyahu has denied attributing this action to himself. On Saturday evening, Netanyahu tweeted, "Shin Bet confirmed that the Prime Minister had no knowledge of the Gantz phone issue; Gantz and Lapid distort the truth that the Iranian government openly supports them; they were supporters of the JCPOA, but Netanyahu fought against it." The latest polls leading up to the elections on April 8 show that the Blue and White coalition led by Gantz may gain 3 to 5 more seats than Netanyahu's Likud, but due to the strengthening of the right-wing and religious factions, the likelihood of Netanyahu remaining Prime Minister remains strong.