As his mandate to form a government expires, Likud party head Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to notify President Isaac Herzog by telephone on Wednesday that he has succeeded in crafting a coalition.
According to a report on Kan News, the Likud plans to sign at least one agreement detailing the incoming government's principles with the other coalition parties at some point during the day.
For the time being, the Likud and haredi party representatives have decided to postpone their signing of an agreement on the specifics of the Draft Law until after the establishment of the government. As such, the principles underlying the law will not be specified in the coalition agreement; instead, a few sentences will be included, highlighting the importance of Torah study and the need to ensure that Torah scholars can continue to study. The agreement will also include a commitment to legislate a Basic Law: Torah study, parallel to the Draft Law.
During the next few days prior to the swearing-in of the new government, Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu will be attending to the distribution of portfolios to the members of his own party.
According to the Maariv newspaper, Netanyahu is considering creative solutions in order to solve the thorny question of how to satisfy the demands and expectations of numerous veteran Likud politicians with only a few significant portfolios available. According to sources within the Likud, several days ago MK Yisrael Katz received an unofficial offer to serve as Foreign Minister in a rotation with MK Amir Ohana, with Katz serving in the position for the first two years of the term.
The sources say that the "rotation solution" is likely to be extensively used in the incoming government, given the large number of experienced Likud politicians expecting to be granted a seat around the cabinet table.