It is now obvious that a number of veteran Likud MKs and ministers will not be sitting around the cabinet table in the next government. This is due primarily to their falling in standing in the party’s lineup.
Not wishing to cast them out the backroom efforts are already underway to find them respectable employment. Some of the possibilities being weighed at present include Finance Minister Dr. Yuval Steinitz being appointed as Israeli ambassador to Washington; Minister Limor Livnat being appointed as Israel’s next ambassador to London; Gilad Erdan to become the next ambassador to the United Nations; Minister Yuli Edelstein to become the next ambassador to the Former Soviet Union; and Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom to become Israel’s next president.
Rarely is about what best serves Israel’s national interests as it is about ‘pay back’, taking care of those who remained loyal in the past.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is well-aware that that the number of ministerial slots available to him is quite limited, especially because of the deal by which Likud and Yisrael Beitenu ran together. In addition, Yesh Atid vows the new government must return to the 18 cabinet posts seen in the past. Early reports from the coalition talks signal that Mr. Netanyahu is willing to come down from the current 29 cabinet posts to 24, but not to 18.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
The title of this piece is offensive and so is the actual reporting. It is commom practice in every country and in every political aprty to appoint their supporters to ambassadorships and other appointments. Whom else should they appoint? Their adversaries? Meretz? The Arabs? This article relies uopn ridiculuous assumptions.