Likud MK Nir Barkat turned down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer for the intelligence, cyber and technology, or higher education ministerial portfolios, according to Channel 12.
The television report says Barkat, a former Jerusalem mayor, objected to running an office invented for the new government, which will have the largest number of cabinet members in Israel’s history.
“I won’t take a portfolio that will harm the government’s work and waste public funds during the coronavirus [pandemic],” he told Netanyahu, the report says.
Barkat asked for the education or energy ministries, but was rejected.
The Intelligence Ministry eventually went to Likud’s Eli Cohen, while Ze’ev Elkin will oversee higher education, along with several other issues.
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