The dramatic events associated with the formation of the coalition ended just two hours before the expiration of the period assigned for its formation by law. As w result, on Wednesday May 6 at about 23:00 Netanyahu informed President Reuven Rivlin that he had a parliamentary majority of 61 votes, and was ready to announce his government.
However, the drama surrounding the formation of the new 34th government was just beginning to gain momentum. The point is that when Benjamin Netanyahu was forming a coalition he gave away virtually all the "important" ministerial portfolios, and what is left could not satisfy the ambitious demands of the members of his party.
First of all, there was a struggle for the vacant post of the Foreign Minister in the Likud party. 5 politicians of the party intended to receive this post. As a result, Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to ‘’reserve’’ this post for himself, or the next partners in the coalition in order not to upset anyone.
The week was full of intrigues, offense and disappointments. Member of parliament Ayoub Kara tried to "reserve" a post for himself, that would allow him, in his words, "to properly represent the Druze community in the Knesset.’’ After the meeting the Prime Minister was even in the Ein Kerem hospital. Later, in an interview to the Reshet Bet radio he gave when he was in hospital, the deputy said "my heart tells me that I should be the head of government, and to support the coalition.’’
Special "claims" were expressed by the second member of the party, Gilad Erdan, who during the election campaign was the only one who defended the Netanyahu family from attacks by the mass media. He didn’t receive the post of Foreign Minister and demanded a dual post: Minister of the Interior and Minister of Internal Security with extended powers and budget, explaining his request by the fact that the practice is used in many countries and it is necessary to make reforms. After being refused, Erdan took offense, went home and didn’t answer phone calls. However, being one of the leaders of Erdan, he could not afford to "destroy" the government and the party. Late at night, he managed to ‘‘persuade’’ himself and returned to the Knesset for administering the oath to the government.
Erdal’s demarche led to fact that voting in the Knesset was delayed for several hours. Only late in the evening on Thursday the 14th of May, were 34 members of the Government of Israel administered the oath at the Knesset.
Before the ceremony of administering the oath, the deputies approved the new government by a majority of votes. Being a part of the newly formed ruling coalition, 61 members of parties voted ‘‘for’’, and 59 deputies voted ‘’against’’.
The new government consists of 25 members, 19 of them lead ministries, six of them head two ministries, two of them have portfolios, and four are deputies. At the same time, the Prime Minister has the three vacant ministries for his coalition partners.
As a result, the following representatives of the Likud party lead the following ministries:
Benjamin Netanyahu - Prime Minister and Minister of Communications and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Health
Moshe Ya'alon - Minister of Defence;
Silvan Shalom - Minister of Interior Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister;
Yuval Steinitz - Minister of Energy and National Infrastructure;
Yisrael Katz - Minister of Transport and Minister of Intelligence;
Miri Regev - Minister of Culture and Sports;
Zeev Elkin - Absorption Minister and Minister for Strategic Threats; Danny Danon - Minister for Science, Technology and Space;
Yariv Levin - Minister of Internal Security and the Minister of Tourism and Minister of Government Relations and the Knesset;
Haim Katz - Minister of Social Welfare;
Gila Gamliel - Minister for women's rights and national minorities, promotion of youth and pensioners;
Tzipi Hotoveli - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ofir Akunis - Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Communications;
Benny Begin - Minister without Portfolio;
Representatives of the "Byte Yehuda,’’ party, leader Naftali Bennett:
Naftali Bennett - Minister of Education and Minister for Relations with the Diaspora;
Ayelet Shaked - Minister of Justice;
Uri Ariel - Minister of Agriculture;
Representatives of the Shas party, leader Aryeh Deri:
Aryeh Deri - Minister of Economy and Minister of Development of Negev and Galilee;
David Azoulay - Minister of Religious Affairs;
Yitzhak Cohen - Deputy Minister of Finance;
Representatives of the Kulanu party, leader Moshe Kahlon:
Moshe Kahlon - Minister of Finance;
Yoav Galant - Minister of Construction;
Avi Gabay - Minister of Ecology (not a deputy of the Knessett)
Representatives of the Yahud ha Torah party, leader Yakov Liytsman:
Yaakov Litzman - Deputy Minister of Health with authorities of Minister;
Meshulam Nahari - Deputy Minister of Education.
As mentioned before, the ministers of Israel are appointed according to their position on their party list, not experience in their sector. A high position on the party list does not always require education and experience, sometimes all it takes is contacts and luck. Subsequently, on the one hand, practically half of the appointed ministers have previous ministerial records, on the other hand, only half of ministers have a higher education, five went only through college, five others have only religious education, three only have school degrees. And yet, they claim to be implementing ideological endeavours incompatible with reality, giving overestimated promises.
However, problems with forming the Cabinet do not end there. First of all, the prime minister has not given up on getting Erdan back into the government. At first, he showed the latter 'who was the boss', immediately dismissing the director general of the Ministry of Communications and putting Erdan's reforms on hold. Therefore, after long negotiations, the latter agreed to head the Ministry of Internal Security, with a bigger budget. In addition to that, he became the head of the Ministry of Intelligence, taking the post of Ze'ev Elkin's (Likud).
Nonetheless, the expanded Cabinet is out of seats, Benyamin Netanyahu needs to dismiss Benny Begin from his ministerial seat. Begin resigns peacefully and without a clarion scandal. Ze'ev Elkin, though, was hostile towards the admittance of his fellow party member into the government. As a sign of protest against his strategic ministerial portfolio being handed to Erdan, Elkin refused to support the decision and skipped the budgetary votes on Monday evening. As a result, the prime minister offered Elkin the post of the minister for Jerusalem and diaspora affairs, which had earlier been promised to Nir Barkat. According to the law on partition of power, a city mayor cannot be both a member of parliament and a minister, Nir Barkat was still very offended by the prospect. Despite Barkat's grievance and disagreement, the government gave approval to the formation of the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Heritage and appointment of Ze'ev Elkin as its head.
More reshuffles may ensue. Ofir Akunis, Israel's likely soon-to-be ambassador to the UN, may lose his ministerial post. Current Ambassador Ron Prosor's tenure expires in three months. Perhaps Ofir Akunis was offered such an 'interesting' post as the minister without portfolio at the Ministry of Communications in order to raise the status of the future ambassador to the UN.
On May 18, most commissions of the Knesset of the 20th calling were determined. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Commission will be headed by Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to give him a ministerial post. However, many relate the decline to old criminal records that forced Hanegbi to leave the Ministry of Ecology during Ehud Olmert's term.
And nowsome public organizations have demanded that Hanegbi be checked before being appointed. The same demands were made regarding Aryeh Deri, who had earlier been sentenced for graft and deceiving public trust. Aryeh Deri withdrew his claims to head the Interior Ministry. It seems that Hanegbi decided to wait and see.
The Legislative Commission is headed by Nissan Slomiansky (HaBayit HaYehudi), Finance Commission by Moshe Gafni (Yahadut HaTora), Economic Commission by Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union), State Control Commission by Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid), Commission for Science and Technology by Uri Maklev (Yahadut HaTora), Labour and Social Support Commission by Eli Alaluf (Kulanu). Kulanu members will also be in charge of the Commission for Rights of the Child and the Commission for Public Petitions. Shas will head the Education and Culture Commission.
On May 31, the following Cabinet was formed: Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Minister of the Interior Silvan Shalom, Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan, Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked, Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon, Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz, Minister of Education Naftali Bennett, Minister of the Economy Aryeh Deri, Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz, Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ze'ev Elkin.
The Legislative Commission held its first session on May 31. It consists of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (head of the commission, member of HaBayit HaYehudi), Likud members Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev, Minister of Women's Rights Gila Gamliel, Minister without Portfolio at the Ministry for Communications Ofir Akunis, Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz, Minister of Immigrant Absorption Ze'ev Elkin, Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin, Minister of Science, Technology and Space Danny Danon. The commission has members of other parties: Minister of Environmental Protection Avi Gabai (KUlanu), Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Uri Ariel (HaBayit HaYehudi) and Minister of Religious Affairs David Azulai (Shas).
It is noteworthy that the coalition agreement between Likud and HaBayit HaYehudi allows Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to veto bills proposed by the Legislative Commission.
The appointments imply that the 34th government has been fully formed and started functioning under the leadership of Netanyahu . Almost all ministers are yet to appoint director generals to their ministries, which is a purely technical nuance. On the other hand, it may take a couple of months in some ministries. The primary goal of practically all ministries is the budget of 2015. The country has been living without a budget for half a year, which means that most ministerial projects have been frozen. Adoption of the budget for 2016 is close, with new taxes and cuts. So the problems of the 34th government are just beginning.
