Amid reports that negotiations are taking place behind the scenes towards bringing the Machane Tzioni party into the coalition, Channel 10 TV News political affairs corresponded Raviv Drucker is already assigning cabinet posts.

Since the formation of this government Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has held a few cabinet posts available in the hope of bringing Machane Tzioni or Yisrael Beitenu into the coalition. Clearly he is walking a tight rope with coalition partner Bayit Yehudi and the PM and Naftali Bennett are far from political allies. In addition to serving as Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu is also Foreign Minister, Communications Minister, and Economy Minister, all positions that would be given to a new coalition partner. According to Drucker, Shelly Yacimovich would serve as Justice Minister in place of Ayelet Shaked of Bayit Yehudi, as Naftali Bennett announced if Machane Tzioni enters the coalition his party would move to the opposition.

In fact, according to Druker, the deal with Machane Tzioni is all but sealed, a deal which he feels does little for Machane Tzioni since the coalition guidelines are not even being modified.

During a morning faction meeting on Wednesday 26 Nissan, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told party colleagues that rumors of backroom talks with Machane Tzioni are correct. He added that despite the talks, they have not reached agreement to date.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)