PM urges cabinet to keep Benny Begin on board
Gilad Erdan’s late entry into government forces out Likud veteran, but Netanyahu says he will try to reinstate him
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday he would attempt to reinstate Likud MK Benny Begin in the cabinet, after Begin, the son of Likud’s first prime minister Menachem Begin, was forced to resign as minister-without-portfolio after only 10 days on the job.
Begin’s resignation followed the announcement that senior Likud lawmaker Gilad Erdan would join the new government as public security minister and strategic affairs minister after a week of uncertainty. This forced Begin to quit due to the limit on the number of ministers in the cabinet.
“In recent days I have spoken to my friends and partners, the heads of the coalition factions, with a personal request — I asked that they allow us to leave our friend MK Benny Begin as a Likud minister in the cabinet,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook.
“Benny is an outstanding public servant. A man of ethics, experience and abilities and one of the pillars of Likud,” he wrote. “His contribution to the government is significant and vital.”
Netanyahu added that he “will make every effort to bring him in later on.”
Erdan’s induction into the government ended a week-long dispute with Netanyahu over his position in the cabinet. After the ministers were sworn in without Erdan on May 7, a Likud party statement noted that negotiations were underway to break the gridlock and secure Erdan, who won the party’s No. 2 slot in Likud primaries, a government position.
Ministers approved Erdan’s appointment via a telephone poll on Monday afternoon, and Knesset members voted him in that night by a margin of 58-55. After the vote in the plenum, Erdan ascended to the lectern and was sworn into office.
Begin wasn’t the only Likud minister to be affected by the development.
In addition to public security and strategic affairs, Erdan will also be in charge of public diplomacy and the Iran dossier, a position previously held by Yuval Steinitz, who fumed at the change, Israel Radio reported.
The Public Security Ministry had initially been handed to Yariv Levin, and the Strategic Affairs Ministry to Ze’ev Elkin, who told Haaretz that he would conduct himself “like a minister who has been fired.”
At the helm of the Strategic Affairs Ministry, Erdan will also likely get a seat in the exclusive security cabinet.
He is expected to head a team in charge of fighting international efforts to boycott Israeli products and cultural initiatives.
The Times of Israel Community.