The feud between IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yoram Cohen is over.
Gantz and Cohen met on Friday afternoon and agreed to cooperate with one another, days after Gantz wrote Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu complaining of mistrust between the IDF and the Shin Bet.
An emotional conflict has been brewing between the security agencies after top IDF officials accused the Shin Bet of not passing along high-priority updates on Hamas during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza this summer.
In the first Cabinet meeting after the war, Cohen and IDF Intelligence Chief Aviv Kochavi argued in front of government ministers over whether the Shin Bet knew about Hamas’s intentions before the war broke.
Cohen claimed that the ISA had warned the IDF preemptively over the possibility of a war, but Kochavi dismissed it out of hand and claimed that it never happened.
To add fuel to the fire, an investigative report by Channel 2 revealed Tuesday that Shin Bet officials allegedly warned the IDF months beforehand over Hamas’s intention to begin another war, in claims later vehemently denied by IDF officials.
During Friday’s meeting between Gantz and Cohen, it was agreed that a joint team will be set up which will determine the responsibilities and authority regarding Gaza.
As well, the two decided on full mutual transparency between the two organizations and to expose all intelligence materials to one another.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)