Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been discussing a proposal in recent days to try and bring New Hope chair Gideon Sa’ar and his four-seat party into the coalition, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The report comes amid increasing tensions in the current 64-member coalition, with the far-right Otzma Yehudit party currently boycotting government votes.
The report says Netanyahu is considering offering Sa’ar the post of justice minister, a portfolio he has held in the past.
However, the report says that Netanyahu’s confidants believe that Sa’ar will only be tempted into the coalition if he is made defense minister.
Netanyahu’s relationship with current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is increasingly strained, but the report says the premier is hesitant to fire him in the middle of a war.
Sa’ar denies the report, telling Kan he is not in talks with Netanyahu and has not demanded to be defense minister.
Sa’ar’s party left the coalition in March after after dissolving his political alliance with Benny Gantz and after his demands to be appointed to the high-level war cabinet were not met.
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