Coalition negotiations between the Likud and Religious Zionism chairman Betzalel Smotrich are at an impasse as Prime Minister-elect Binyanim Netanyahu refuses to grant Smotrich either of the two positions he is demanding.
Smotrich demanded to be appointed either the Finance or Defense Minister. However, Netanyahu already offered the Finance Ministry to Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, who accepted the offer. Netanyahu is reluctant to grant the Defense Ministry to Smotrich due to the US pressure against his appointment.
According to a report on Channel 12 News, Netanyahu’s latest proposal to Smotrich is a “compensation package” in exchange for the finance or defense ministry.
The package includes three portfolios, the most senior of which could be the justice or education ministry or any other ministry that is not finance or defense. In addition, the Religious Zionist party will receive an additional position of a minister in the Defense Ministry, which will include authorities that Smotrich is demanding regarding Yehudah and Shomron, as well as another smaller portfolio.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
A ministry within the Defense Department, with authority over the “territories”, is a great idea. It would give Smotrich all he really wants, and it would keep him out of the USA’s way. He doesn’t need to be Defense Minister for its own sake; he only wants it because the Defense minister controls every detail of people’s lives in the “territories”, and the previous five or six ministers have used that power to make people’s lives miserable. But it must come with full authority over those areas, not subject to the Defense Minister’s veto. And not subject to the PM’s veto either.