The Likud and Shas parties on Thursday night offered a compromise deal under which Shas chief MK Aryeh Deri would forgo the Finance Ministry, allowing it to be granted to MK Bezalel Smotrich of Religious Zionism.
However, under such a deal the Ministry would no longer have control over certain things, such as the Companies Authority and/ or the budget department, Channel 12 News reported.
According to the report, the compromise deal is a result of US pressure on Prime Minister-designate MK Benjamin Netanyahu not to appoint Smotrich to the Defense Ministry. Though Netanyahu has no real issue giving Smotrich the Finance Ministry, it has already been promised to Deri.
Meanwhile, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) is also signaling that it is unhappy with the progress being made in its negotiations with the Likud. The haredi parties are demanding answers regarding stipends for married yeshiva students, the Draft Law, Basic Law: Torah Study - and the Likud is not providing answers.
Netanyahu, for his part, has set next Wednesday, November 23, as the deadline for the formation of the new government.