MK Tzvi Hendel, also of National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu, is being mentioned for the post of Deputy Defense Minister. He told Arutz-7 today, \"I was surprised, but the head of the Sha\'ar HaNegev Regional Council - someone whose ideas are not generally right-wing, but who knows me from the area [Hendel lives in Gush Katif, not far from Sha\'ar HaNegev] said to me, \'Look, if it was up to me, I wouldn\'t want you guys in the government - but if you\'re already going to be there, you should try to be appointed Deputy Defense Minister.\" Others have seconded the idea, and Hendel said, \"In the end, of course, Sharon will decide - I don\'t think that anyone has any particular objections, but it\'s a question of arithmetic, because each party of the coalition needs to get a certain amount of posts... It could very well work out, however.\" He said that the new government\'s military responses in its very first days will be very critical, and will determine how we will live with the Palestinians for the next coming months or years.
Regarding the possible appointment of Peres as Defense Minister, Hendel said, \"Because of our bad experience with other parties attempting to disqualify us from the government, we don\'t want to do the same to others. My stance is that they\'ll be judged for their actions. But my opinions on Peres and Beilin are known: they are the ones who brought Oslo and the Oslo War upon us, and I would be happy if they would leave public life - but in the end we\'re not the ones to decide.\"
Regarding the possible appointment of Peres as Defense Minister, Hendel said, \"Because of our bad experience with other parties attempting to disqualify us from the government, we don\'t want to do the same to others. My stance is that they\'ll be judged for their actions. But my opinions on Peres and Beilin are known: they are the ones who brought Oslo and the Oslo War upon us, and I would be happy if they would leave public life - but in the end we\'re not the ones to decide.\"