Chairman Avigdor Liberman of the Yisrael Beytenu Party has attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to appoint Member of Knesset Yitzhak Cohen of the haredi-religious Shas Party to the post of Minister of Construction and Housing.
Liberman said the appointment "during this transition period is no less than a political hijacking, in order to establish facts on the ground. It is not enough that Shas holds the Interior Ministry that transfers budgets in favor of haredi cities at the expense of the periphery. Now the Ministry of Housing will move green and agricultural land from the regional councils to haredi cities.” He called on the regional councils not to hesitate to take legal action. Liberman said his party would demand the housing portfolio and review all decisions made "during the Shas period".