Likud MK labels ongoing coalition talks ‘a failure,’ laments ministry divisions

Likud MK David Bitan suggests the current coalition negotiations are a failure and that his party is giving up too much.

“The Likud negotiations have failed. We’ll hardly be able to express ourselves,” Bitan tells Army Radio. “We’re losing a lot of portfolios, and even the ones we have kept for ourselves have been emptied of meaning.”

Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu is still working to build his presumed 64-seat coalition with Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Noam, Shas and United Torah Judaism.

Several of the deals made so far have included trimming off portions of the Defense Ministry and the Education Ministry — portfolios Likud is expected to keep — to keep the other parties happy without handing over full control.

Bitan tells Army Radio that Netanyahu should not request a two-week extension from President Isaac Herzog, as he is widely expected to do, but should hammer out a coalition quickly and deal with divisions and arguments later.