Channel 12 News reported Daphna Liel reported on Sunday that Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu met with MK Idit Silman of the Likud and urged her not to accept a ministerial position in the new government, but to be content with the position of deputy minister or chairperson of a committee.
In response to the report, MK Silman claimed that such a meeting never took place. "This is the life of an elected official, reporter Daphna Liel contacted me this evening with a story that never happened about my personal meeting with the elected Prime Minister."
Silman added, "I made it clear to her unequivocally that such things never happened and the story she is describing is nonsense. Despite my clarifications, she decided to publish this evening things that are not true at all.''
Meanwhile on Sunday, Kan 11 News reported that Netanyahu asked MK Yariv Levin to take the Justice Ministry in the new government, and Levin demanded an unwritten pledge from him, that he will give him the support needed to lead dramatic reformations of the justice system such as a change in the Judgment Base Law, a dramatic change in the judicial election process, and an Override Clause over the Supreme Court.
Netanyahu refused to give Levin a "blank check", and asked him to carry out the reforms of the justice system gradually and to wait for the dramatic reforms which Levin wished to carry out.
In light of this, according to the report, Levin turned down the Justice Portfolio and on Sunday Netanyahu decided to appoint him as interim Speaker of the Knesset. Levin promised to resign before the new government is sworn in, but there is a possibility that he will be reappointed and will serve as the permanent speaker.