Government grows even bigger as Netanyahu announces 19 ministers from his bloc

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces a list of 19 ministers to sit in Israel’s 35th government, despite a deal with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party that Likud would receive 18 portfolios.

According to Channel 12 news, Gantz has agreed that Tzachi Hanegbi would serve as a minister without portfolio for a few months until Tzipi Hotovely departs for her ambassadorship in London, at which point he will replace her at the Settlements Ministry.

Blue and White would not immediately confirm the report.

Under the coalition deal signed last month between Likud and Blue and White, the new government will initially have 34 ministers, which were supposed to be divided equally between the Netanyahu- and Gantz-led blocs, before swelling to 36 in six months in what would be the largest government in Israel’s history.

Gantz, however, chose not to fill his quota of ministers due to a lack of MKs after the Yesh Atid and Telem factions split away from Blue and White due to the deal with Netanyahu, and also due to the high financial cost of having a large number of ministries.

Channel 12 reports that only the votes of 16 ministers from each bloc will count, maintaining the equal power-sharing principle of the new coalition.