In from the cold

It was inevitable, or at least seemed so, that Likud’s No. 2 man Gilad Erdan would eventually find himself a seat at the cabinet table after smoothing things out with the prime minister. Nonetheless, his coming in from the cold of life without a ministerial portfolio was still dramatic when it happened on Monday, at least as evidenced by the front pages adorning Israel’s three major daily newspapers.

Yedioth Ahronoth portrays the about-face by Erdan as him folding, noting that the ministerial posts he ended up with were exactly what was offered him before the government was formed, while Israel Hayom helps the altneu minister save some face by reporting that he managed to squeeze out more money for the police force in the negotiations.

“What was promised me were the needed tools to create a real change in the police and personal security of everyone. I have the ability to work to bring change,” Erdan is quoted as saying in Israel Hayom. “I am going to work hard and am committed to bringing results.”

Yedioth’s Sima Kadmon, though, lets loose with a furious denunciation of Erdan, exposing him as weak, unable to stand his ground, and now just another spoke in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s random wheel of titles and responsibilities.

“It’s no less than ironic that exactly Gilad Erdan won yesterday the strategic threats portfolio. What’s with him and threats – strategic and nonstrategic? Verily, if he knew how to threaten, he wouldn’t find himself 10 days after the formation of the government agreeing to what was given him from the beginning,” she writes.

Erdan may be a pansy when he’s up against Netanyahu, but he can still throw his weight around the Likud party, and as anybody who has ever tried to weigh a gold crown using a giant vat of water knows, something of equal weight must find itself on the outside.

In this case, that means a whole lot of Likud ministers suddenly finding themselves displaced by Erdan’s entry.

The biggest loser in all this is Benny Begin, a one-time minister without portfolio who will now be a non-minister without portfolio. Or will he?

“In Likud they say that Netanyahu is waiting for Begin to quit or he will fire him himself, though if so, he is trying to ‘square the circle’ and convince his coalition partners to allow him to lift the ceiling on Likud ministers,” the paper reports, next to a picture of Begin’s sad sad mug.

All the arguing over who gets what portfolios and who loses out makes Haaretz’s Yossi Verter think the government looks less than a ruling body and more like a chicken with its head cut off, twitching and running around nonsensically.

Verter portions out equal opprobrium for Erdan and for the other ministers who whined Monday about losing some of their side titles and responsibilities in the shuffle, like Absorption Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin, who saw his strategic affairs portfolio sucked up into Erdan’s bounty.

“Who wants to be absorption minister and spend one’s days bringing new immigrants to the holy land and convincing Israelis abroad to return home; or be police minister and deal with the security of citizens; or be transportation minister and network our land with railways and roads,” Verter asks sarcastically. “What good are any of these if one can’t also boast a title shrouded in mystery with a touch of diplomacy, security, and secrecy, like ‘strategic affairs minister’ or ‘intelligence affairs minister.’ Once an operative portfolio meant something; today, they are mere side dishes to the main course. And in the end, we all know that the only two men with any real influence on diplomatic and security issues are Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.”

Where some see a serious political battle shaping up inside the coalition, Israel Hayom’s Mati Tuchfeld sees an attempt to turn a harmless kerfuffle into a serious spat, by a media unhappy to see its anti-Netanyahu darling fall back into the fold.

“Right after it became clear that Erdan would not be sworn in as a government minister, the Likud No. 2 was enlisted as the hero of the revolt,” he writes before embarking on a doozy of a run-on sentence. “A jumble of words heard here over the past week and a half describe Erdan as one who joined up with Gideon Sa’ar in a conspiracy to topple Netanyahu, and Netanyahu was portrayed as craving and vengeful when he fired the director of the Communications Ministry who was seen as an ally of Erdan, even though the two had not exchanged words in half a year, and even Erdan was seen as a mutineer without backing when he presented a bill to privatize phone company Bezeq in defiance on Netanyahu’s stance, though in the end it turned out he actually supported it.”

Political scuttlebutt isn’t the only thing on the minds of Israel’s reporters and pen jockeys. Haaretz reports that after slaying Erdan, Netanyahu is looking toward his next conquest, moving talks with the Palestinians ahead by beginning a discussion to outline the borders of the settlement blocs Israel would like to keep in a future arrangement.

The paper reports that the prime minister pushed the idea in a meeting with EU foreign policy czar Federica Mogherini last week, in a bid to show a distrustful Europe that he is serious about a two-state solution.

“It’s clear there are areas that will remain under Israeli control under any agreement, just as it’s clear there are areas that will remain under Palestinian control under any agreement. Therefore, we can advance toward understandings on which areas we can continue building in, since in any case, they’ll remain under Israeli control,” the paper reports Netanyahu telling Mogherini, citing an Israeli source with knowledge of the meeting.

Black flag

The fates were not smiling upon another man who tried to make peace with the Palestinians on Monday, as former prime minister Ehud Olmert’s jail sentence in the so-called cash envelopes affair was handed down and earned wide coverage, though the fact that it’s not the top story is perhaps a window into how far the former premier has fallen.

Yedioth Ahronoth pulls a quote out of the sentencing statement – “a black flag flying” over Olmert’s behavior – for its headline.

“For the second time the court ordered yesterday that former prime minister Ehud Olmert be put behind bars,” the paper writes, though it adds that with Olmert appealing, he will stay out of prison for at least 45 days.

Israel Hayom’s Dan Margalit takes umbrage at the fact that Olmert keeps being found guilty and sentenced to jail, but is still cavorting around Jerusalem as a free man, trying to sew together a deal to reduce his sentence.

“Olmert is still far from a deal. He wants to bide his time,” he writes, displaying all the period marks he stole from colleague Tochfield. “Now he got 45 days to appeal. He’ll ask for an extension. That’s his MO. Afterward he’ll ask for a court recess. The foot-dragging will continue. The cash envelopes affair will be considered anew in the Supreme Court. Justice isn’t in sight. At best it is over the horizon.”