Shas leader Aryeh Deri strongly opposes changing the law that limits the number of ministers in the cabinet to 18, Channel 2 News reported on Thursday evening.
The report comes after previous reports indicated that the Likud was examining the possibility of changing the governance law, that was passed by the last government at the urging of Yesh Atid.
According to Channel 2, Deri conveyed a clear message to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that such a move would not contribute to the new government’s “public relations” and that cancelling the governance law “would not look good in the eyes of the Israeli public”.
Ironically, Deri’s position places him in agreement with Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, who earlier on Thursday blasted Netanyahu over the planned change in the bill, saying it was “corruption” and vowing to fight it.
Lapid and the haredim have been at odds over issues such as the draft law and the budget of yeshivas. The haredi parties, expected to be in the next coalition with Lapid in the opposition, have promised to undo some of what they call the “damage” done by Yesh Atid in the previous government.
Meanwhile, MK Miri Regev (Likud) rejected Lapid’s criticism of the plans to change the governance law, calling for the law to be changed despite Lapid’s threats.
"I think there is no problem with increasing the number of ministers to 23, the same as in the outgoing government,” she said, adding, “It was convenient for Yair Lapid to have 23 ministers in the last government, right? So just as it was convenient for him in the outgoing government it should be convenient now.”