Aryeh Deri
Aryeh DeriMiriam Alster/Flash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly hinted Monday that he intends to hand over the Interior Ministry portfolio that was vacated with Silvan Shalom's resignation to Shas chairman Aryeh Deri.

Besides Deri, who served as interior minister in the past but was forced to resign due to a corruption scandal that landed him in jail, the other names that have been floated as possible replacements for Shalom are from Likud.

According to Walla! News, Netanyahu said in a closed meeting of the Likud Knesset faction that "there are factions that did not receive enough important portfolios," a remark taken by those present as an obvious hint at Shas.

Netanyahu, who has been serving as temporary Interior Minister since Shalom's resignation announcement Sunday, is reportedly keeping other options open, however, adding that the matter had not yet been decided and that "there are different possibilities."

In any case, he smiled, "I will not keep the Interior Ministry in my hands."

Other names mentioned as possible replacements for Shalom include MK Tzahi Hanegbi and Culture Minister Miri Regev.

Netanyahu promised Hanegbi that he would give him a ministerial portfolio one year after the elections, and Regev agreed to receive the relatively weak culture portfolio without putting up a fight, during the assembly of the current coalition.