While Bayit Yehudi succeeded in gaining control of the Justice Ministry in coalition negotiations with Likud, it appears Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not about to sit back and permit Ayelet Shaked to operate without supervision.
Control over the ministry became a deal breaker in talks as Bayit Yehudi set a red line after losing control of the Ministry of Religious Services to Shas and party leader Naftali Bennett realized he hasn’t a chance of becoming Defense Minister or Foreign Minister as he hoped.
It is now clear that the prime minister is not about to relinquish total control over the Justice Ministry with Shaked at the helm and a clause was included in the coalition agreement permitting the prime minister to do just that.
The prime minister has appointed and Minister of Tourism and Minister of Public Security Yariv Levin as his personal representative to the Ministerial Law Committee. Mr. Netanyahu has given Levin the authority to block legislation backed by Shaked if it is contrary to his agenda, thus usurping Shaked’s exclusive control over the powerful committee.
In essence, Levin is going to be the prime minister’s personal mashgiach over the Justice Ministry, with the authority to prevent Minister Shaked from unilaterally pushing forward any Bayit Yehudi agenda that is deemed objectionable to Mr. Netanyahu.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Shaked is a child, politically speaking. An inexperienced youth who is only in the position she has as a result of giving Bennett an appointment since he was needed after Lieberman jumped ship.
judging from the picture this Levin also looks like a kid. But this whole system is nuts. No one trusts each other and each one would do whatever he feels like. For a government to run there must be unity.
Nice knows nothing about the law. And becomes chief lawyer.
So he executed an agreed upon clause. Big deal.