Netanyahu coalition seeks to expand cabinet in first battle

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will look to expand his cabinet to allow more ministers Sunday morning, as his thin 61-seat coalition faces its first test amid vows from opposition figures that they will make his time in power “hell.”

The outgoing cabinet is expected to approve a measure allowing an increased number of ministers at a meeting in Jerusalem Sunday, which will allow Netanyahu to give out more top jobs to keep party and coalition partners happy.

The measure, which will overturn the law limiting the number of ministers and deputy ministers passed during the last Knesset, will head to the parliament for a vote on Monday.

Netanyahu must swear in his cabinet by Wednesday. He is expected to hold consultations with Likud lawmakers over the next couple of days to determine who will get which ministerial posts.

A number of internal fights are expected within the party, with some dozen senior politicians squabbling for a handful of ministerial posts.

Some Likud politicians are also crying foul over Netanyahu’s decision to hold the Foreign Ministry himself, which he is thought to be keeping in reserve to woo Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog into the coalition, Israel Radio reported Sunday.

Despite some rumors to the contrary, Herzog has repeatedly denied the possibility of his Zionist Union joining Netanyahu’s government.

Herzog promised Sunday to bring down the government quickly by leading a fighting opposition.

He also vowed to “filibuster anything” the prime minister puts forward.

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid responded to Netanyahu’s plan to expand the cabinet Saturday, calling it “corruption at the expense of the public coffers.”

“We will take it to the High Court of Justice if necessary,” said Lapid, who pushed the cabinet-limiting measure that is being overturned, “because what Netanyahu is trying to do is waste public funds in order to award himself political comfort while hurting the democratic process.”

Netanyahu may also face a legal battle in the near future as Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein indicated that he will fight the prime minister’s plans to allocate approximately NIS 160 million as a part of his coalition deals. Of that amount, nearly NIS 120 million of it was allocated to just six United Torah Judaism MKs’ discretion.

The attorney general’s office published a directive last month that forbade allocating funds to specific parties and individuals. Direct funding of parties as a part of political dealings could be seen as being for the purpose of personal gain, and not for the good of the country.

The apportioning of over NIS 100 million to the ultra-Orthodox parties also sparked Lapid’s resentment, and he struck out at de facto opposition head Herzog, highlighting fraying tensions within the opposition.

“Terrible things have been happening in the last few weeks. They’re selling the country and Bouji [Herzog] and his friends in the party are silent. They are silent because they know that they would pay the ultra-Orthodox exactly what Netanyahu paid — and even more,” Lapid said Saturday.

Zionist Union MK Eitan Cabel warned Netanyahu that he was entering “hell,” in a message posted to Facebook Saturday night. He also pulled no punches in a response to Lapid.

“I know that the only God you have is yourself,” Cabel wrote on Facebook to Lapid. “The Zionist Union is the largest party in the opposition, and we, not you, will lead the fight to shorten the days of Netanyahu’s new government just as we did with the previous government that you were a part of.”

Herzog too responded to Lapid’s attack, saying the Yesh Atid leader had to decide “if he wants to work together in the opposition or if he wants to keep ‘shooting inside the APC.'”

In addition the funding for UTJ pledged as part of the coalition pact, the Likud party’s agreement with the right-wing Jewish Home party included a promise to add NIS 50 million to the budget of the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization, which develops infrastructure for West Bank settlements.

Earlier this year, Labor MK Stav Shaffir accused the government of secretly funding the Settlement Division, claiming that almost NIS 600 million had been allocated to the group outside of the general budget. Weinstein’s second-in-command Dina Zilber determined in February that the government must cease its funding of the Settlement Division from both the general budget and any other manner of direct funding.

It is not yet clear how the attorney general’s opposition to these allocations will affect Netanyahu’s already tense agreement with the Jewish Home party, which is a staunch supporter of the settlement enterprise.

The Maariv newspaper revealed Sunday that one of the Likud-Jewish Home negotiation’s sticking points was Netanyahu’s insistence that he retain oversight and the ability to veto decisions made in Justice Minister-to-be Ayelet Shaked’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which determines what legislation the government will back.