Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett
Jewish Home chairman Naftali BennettBen Kelmer/Flash 90

Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett refuses to back down from his demand to become foreign minister and is threatening not to join the coalition unless he receives the portfolio. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been sending out signals according to which he wants current foreign minister Avigdor Liberman, who heads Yisrael Beytenu, to continue to hold the job.

A senior source in the Jewish Home party, which has eight MKs in the new Knesset, told Arutz Sheva Thursday that there is no chance that the party will compromise with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the demand, as it did in previous years and after the previous elections.

"The era in which religious Zionism receives the short end of the stick in negotiations, and is taken for granted, is over,” he stressed.

"There are three key portfolios – Defense, Foreign Affairs and Finance – there is no reason for the Jewish Home to receive less than all the other parties, and certainly not less than Liberman. Why is it self-evident that Liberman, with six mandates, will receive the Foreign Ministry? Because he is more aggressive? Scarier? Because he led to the last unnecessary elections?”

The source rejected the criticism within the right wing camp, and especially the religious-Zionist sector, according to which Bennett's insistence vis-a-vis the prime minister could lead to a unity government with the Left.

"The Jewish Home Chairman is not afraid of the Opposition,” the source said. “We are tired of the disparaging attitude toward our public. 'They're in our pocket anyway' – those are the expressions that are being heard, until now, by the prime minister's men and senior Likud officials. That is why they are quick to hand out portfolios to everyone and leave us for last. The sucker era is over. If we do not receive one the senior portfolios, we will not join the government. We can do many things from the Opposition as well.”

“We reject the the scaremongering regarding a unity government,” the source added. “We can't be bought for any price and if the disparaging attitude toward religious Zionism continues, we will not be there this time around.”

In response, a Likud source who is in the know regarding coalition negotiations said that Netanyahu does intend to give Bennett one of the senior portfolios, but that this does not necessarily mean either the Defense, Foreign Affairs or Finance portfolio. Instead, the source said, Bennett could receive an enlarged version of the Economics Ministry, the position of Deputy Prime Minister, or other authority and roles that may be offered in the coming days.