Shas party leader Aryeh Deri may be the only party member seated at the cabinet table, not because of some decree but because it appears this is the Deri plan for the 34th Government.
One of the possibilities being discussed as coalition talks are underway, albeit unofficially, is to eliminate the law passed by the Yesh Atid party in the current administration limiting the number of cabinet ministers to 18. Having By having additional ministerial portfolios available obviously simplifies coalition talks and facilitates assembling a coalition.
Both Shas leader Aryeh Deri and Yisrael Beitenu party leader Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have expressed objection to such a move. They feel a coalition must be assembled without adding ministers to the cabinet table.
At least in Deri’s case, he is backing up his position with actions. According to a Yediot Achronot report, Deri has asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to place him in charge of two government ministries instead of appointing two ministers. Deri envisions himself serving as both Minister of the Interior and Minister of Religious Services. Party colleagues Yitzchak Cohen, Meshulam Nahari and Yaakov Margi would serve as deputy ministers in the Ministries of Finance, Education and Religious Services.
In the eyes of Yediot Achronot, Deri has another motive for his seemingly noble gesture. If the prime minister accepts the Deri Plan, he would be the one and only Shas minister seated at the cabinet table and this would significantly boost his own personal power base while providing positions for colleagues, albeit less powerful, thereby satisfying the party and maintaining his leadership position and making it increasingly difficult for other to challenge that position.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
Does one wonder why yishai broke away?
I am quite sure that Bibi would have given up a seat of his in favor of Yachad entering the knesset. The coalition would be formed in one minute if every partner couldn’t demand the world and he felt that someone else was looking over his shoulder. Hopefully they won’t blow it.
Smart
1. Laws are supported by parties, not passed by parties. The restriction of the cabinet to 18 ministers was a statute enacted by the whole of the Kenesset.
2. Merging Religious Affairs and Interior could backfire, especially if someone such as Yair Lapid were the Minister.
3. Deri would be better off asking to be a Minister without Portfolio, and in return gets support for legislation supporting his party’s agenda (e.g.ending conscription, subsidies for yeshivos). The traditional system of becoming a Minister and then handing out patronage (money) to one’s friends was always illegal, and the law has always been enforced if one’s friends are frum Sefardim.
4. Deri lost almost half his seats, and is down to a third of what Shas had in the past (it peaked at around 17 seats), and Yesh Atid might be glad to make fewer demands if only to keep Deri out of the goverment since Yesh Atid’s supporters hate Deri – and Netanyahu may prefer less demanding allies.
Goodness!
If he would lower his ambitions ,he would doing all the frum a favor
“Yeridah l’tzorech aliya”!