BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allocated the final ministerial portfolios during the early hours of this morning, with the new government set to be sworn in at the Knesset later today.

Netanyahu informed President Peres that he had formed a coalition on Saturday night, after agreements were reached on Friday with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and Jewish Home headed by Naftali Bennett. Lapid becomes Finance Minister with his party also providing the ministers of Education, Welfare and Science and Technology. Bennett takes the new portfolio of Economy and Trade with Jewish Home also responsible for the Housing, Religious Affairs and Pensioners Affairs ministries. Tzipi Livni is the new Justice Minister while fellow Hatnuah MK Amir Peretz is Minister for Environmental Affairs.

Netanyahu spent yesterday finalising the allocation of ministerial portfolios assigned to Likud, with the ambitions of his MKs far outweighing the number of ministerial openings. Moshe Ya’alon, a former IDF Chief of Staff is the new Defence Minister, while fellow senior Likud figures Gideon Sa’ar takes control of the Interior Ministry and Gilad Erdan becomes Minister of Home Front Security and Communications. Late last night, Netanyahu successfully reached agreement with two other Likud heavyweights, former-finance minister Yuval Steinitz and former-vice prime minister Silvan Shalom. Steinitz becomes Minister of International Relations while Shalom will be Energy and Water Minister with a seat in the security cabinet.

The coalition agreements, which indicate the focus of the new government, provide a strong emphasis on economic and social policy. However, they also stipulate that “Israel will seek a peace agreement with the Palestinians with the goal of reaching a diplomatic agreement.”  A new law on the ultra-Orthodox military draft will be submitted in 45 days, while a core curriculum will be developed for the entire education system and there will be an economic focus on small businesses. There is no mention though of the introduction of civil marriage or same-sex unions as had been suggested by Yesh Atid.