Agreement has been reached on the formation of a new coalition government. Under a compromise arrangement brokered by Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party has received the education portfolio, and Yesh Atid has foregone the interior portfolio, which will remain the in the hands of Likud-Beitenu. Bennett himself will be Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor with expanded powers.
Yesh Atid will also have the health, welfare and science portfolios. Yesh Atid leader Lapid will serve as Minister of Finance, while Rabbi Shai Piron will serve as Minister of Education and Yael German will be Minister of Health.
As already agreed several weeks ago Hatenua leader Tzipi Livni will serve as Minister of Justice while Amir Peretz will be Minister of Environmental Protection.
Kadima, which won two seats in the elections, will not be in the government after a suitable cabinet post could not be found for its leader Shaul Mofaz.
It is unclear who Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will appoint as Interior Minister but former IDF chief of staff Moshe Yaalon is expected to be named Defense Minister and the foreign ministry will be reserved for Avigdor Liberman in the hope that he will be acquitted in his upcoming trial.
The coalition agreements are expected to be signed today, and the new government will be sworn in early next week in time for the visit of US President Barack Obama on Wednesday.
The new government will have 22 ministers, more than the 18 that Yesh Atid was campaigning for, but the coalition agreement includes plans for legislation to limit future governments to 18 ministers, to raise the Knesset majority required to unseat a government, and to raise the threshold of votes required to win a seat in Knesset elections.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 14, 2013
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