Journalist Daphna Liel of Channel 12 News reported on Friday that the Likud has submitted a “final offer” to the Yamina party.
According to the report, the Likud proposes that Yamina receive the Education Ministry, the Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry, a Deputy Minister of Defense, the chairmanship of the Knesset Constitution and Law Committee, responsibility for the National Service, and possibly the Settlement Division.
Yamina denied the report and said in a statement, “We have not received any proposal. If the Likud wants to keep the right-wing bloc and not dismantle it, they should not send proposals through the media. If the Likud is interested, they are welcome to talk to us after the conclusion of Shabbat.”
On Friday morning, the Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted a senior official from Yamina who estimated that the party was headed to the opposition.
The official said that the party demanded two of the following three ministries: Education, Health and Transportation. In addition, the party demanded the Knesset Constitution Committee in order to “balance Avi Nissenkorn’s leftism in the Justice Ministry.”
According to the same official, the emerging government is expected to include a host of components from the left as well in the economic sphere, specifically citing Labor chairman Amir Peretz, who is slated to be appointed Economy Minister, and Nissenkorn.
“We need influential cases to balance that leftism, because if we are small and devoid of positions of influence, we have nothing to look for in this government. It’s amazing how Netanyahu gives the haredim all their demands,” added the official.
“Litzman just said, ‘I want the Housing Ministry,’ and lo and behold, he gets the Housing Ministry. Nobody argues with them.
The feeling is that Netanyahu simply wants us outside of the government and in such a situation we will certainly be outside. We did not ask for the Foreign Ministry in order to travel around the world for cocktails.
We asked for practical ministries, to take care of the health, to fight epidemics, repair public transportation, build a national pandemic system. We want to take the toughest ministries there are, we come to work.”
Source: Arutz Sheva