Netanyahu to Gantz: What do Iranians have on you after phone hack?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday sought to paint Benny Gantz as vulnerable to blackmail by Iran, accusing him of hiding the fact that there was sensitive information on a cell phone allegedly hacked by Tehran.

"Benny Gantz what are you hiding from the Israeli public?" Netanyahu said during a press conference at his Jerusalem residence. "What do the Iranians know about you that you are not telling us? What classified information do the Iranians have on you that you are not revealing even to your fellow party members? And why have you not even revealed to your fellow party members the fact that the Iranians hacked your cell phone?"

The prime minister, whose Likud party is more or less deadlocked with Gantz's Blue and White Party with just weeks to go before the April 9 elections, said that the alleged hack was "a matter of national security."

Netanyahu's language echoed that of Gantz earlier in the day, when he said that the purchase of submarines and patrol boats from German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp had "security and strategic implications" for the State of Israel, and called for a full investigation into the affair.

Gantz has insisted that there was no sensitive information on the phone. Iran has denied any role in hacking the device.