Cabinet remains elusive amid fierce wrangling for portfolios

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued negotiations for ministerial appointments into the eleventh hour Thursday night, postponing the Knesset’s swearing-in ceremony for his new government to resume talks with two senior Likud lawmakers — Gilad Erdan and Silvan Shalom — who are battling for senior cabinet positions.

The ceremony was pushed off from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. as the prime minister was in the thick of negotiations, and with Erdan threatening to stay out of the cabinet if his demands weren’t met.

Erdan, who won the second spot after Netanyahu in the Likud primaries ahead of the election in March, met with the prime minister twice on Wednesday and rebuffed his demand that he continue serving as interior minister.

According to Channel 2, Erdan proposed uniting the interior and public security ministries into a French-style office that sees domestic planning and public security as two sides of the same coin.

Netanyahu was loath, however, to lose two posts to one candidate when he is already dealing with 17 lawmakers competing for just 12 portfolios.

According to a report in the news site NRG, however, Erdan was offered the public security, culture and sports, and strategic affairs ministries, plus responsibility for the Israel Broadcasting Authority and a seat on the security cabinet.

Officials in the party indicated that either Erdan or Shalom, both senior Likud lawmakers with their eyes set on the Foreign Ministry, would be left without a portfolio.

Those who have already received portfolios include MK Miri Regev who will serve as culture and sports minister, MK Danny Danon as science and technology minister, MK Haim Katz as welfare minister, and MK Yariv Levin as tourism minister. MK Gila Gamliel was appointed minister of gender equality, minority equality, youth advancement, and seniors citizens on Thursday night.

Shortly before 9 p.m., MK Zeev Elkin was named minister of immigration absorption and strategic affairs. Elkin will also be included in the security cabinet.

MK Tzipi Hotovely will serve as deputy foreign minister.

It is widely speculated that Netanyahu is keeping the position of foreign minister open for the time being in an effort to woo either Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman or Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog into the coalition at some point. Until the position is filled, Hotovely will effectively serve as Israel’s top diplomat under Netanyahu.

The prime minister also sought to appoint Ofir Akunis a minister within the Communications Ministry, without heading it, as Netanyahu is also keeping the communications portfolio. However, the move was deemed unlawful by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and may be rolled back, Channel 2 reported.

Earlier, Netanyahu named Likud MK Yuval Steinitz the new government’s minister of energy and infrastructure, after indicating Wednesday that fellow party member Yisrael Katz would receive the intelligence portfolio along with the Transportation Ministry, which he headed in the outgoing cabinet.

Both Katz and Steinitz will also be appointed to the exclusive security cabinet, according to announcements.

Moshe Ya’alon will keep his post as defense minister, Netanyahu said

Netanyahu has said he wants to form a cabinet with 20 ministers to allow adequate representation for all five parties in his coalition.

Likud MK Ayoub Kara, also gunning for a top post, was rushed from the Knesset to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital for tests Thursday after complaining of pains in his chest.

Kara later arrived at the Knesset and announced he was appointed minister of regional cooperation.

Weinstein told Netanyahu Wednesday that he’d have a hard time defending the appointment of Shas party leader Aryeh Deri as economy minister, in light of Deri’s criminal record.

Deri served as interior minister from 1988 to 1993 under Likud prime minister Yitzhak Shamir and then Labor’s Yitzhak Rabin, but resigned after he was charged with accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. Deri was convicted and sent to prison in 2000 for three years.