Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon has come to a final decision on some of the ministers of his new government. He has given the Interior Ministry to the religious Shas party - Eli Yeshai will assume the post - and the Ministry of Construction and Housing to the National Religious Party\'s Rabbi Yitzchak Levy. The agreements regarding the Shas and NRP appointments were reached in consultations at Sharon\'s home with Likud negotiators Uri Shani and Ehud Olmert.
The Education and Justice ministries will go to Sharon\'s own Likud party. MK Tzippy Livni will be the Justice Minister, and the Education Minister will be either Limor Livnat or Meir Shetreet. Shas and the NRP are supporting Livnat, such that her chances of garnering the appointment are very good.
The NRP and Yisrael Beiteinu parties have each been seeking two ministerial appointments, but the Likud has decided that they will have to suffice with one each, plus one or two deputy ministers. United Torah Judaism will not receive a ministry, but rather the chairmanship of the Knesset\'s Finance Committee.
Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yuri Stern was asked today about anonymous \"warnings\" from the direction of the Likud to the effect that \"the small parties had better stop demanding too much, or they\'ll find themselves out of the government altogether.\" Stern told Arutz-7, \"This is just part of the psychological warfare during the negotiations. It was not at all the tone that we heard during our talks with Likud members, and in any event it would be political suicide for the Likud to abandon us.\" Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal then asked, \"Why? Maybe you\'re viewed as a safe bet, as even if the Likud is abandoned by Labor, you\'ll always be happy to join the Likud government...\"
Stern replied, \"One thing we learned from Netanyahu\'s and Barak\'s terms in office - and especially the way they fell from office - is that a Prime Minister who takes his natural partners for granted and abuses them, falls apart at the end. Arik Sharon understands this very well. \" Stern said that his party is not particularly concerned about the exact guidelines and \"sacrifices for peace, and the like,\" because \"everyone knows that the Palestinians are far from ready to come to any agreement with us, thus that this is a moot point right now. The main issue is how the government will respond to the terrorism.\" He said that his party, and in fact the entire right-wing camp, has not given up on its demand that MK Benny Elon head the Knesset Law Committee: \"It is unprecedented that the chairman of this committee be a Knesset Member who does not support the government.\"
The candidacy of Yisrael Beiteinu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman for a ministerial position is again in doubt, as Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein has indicted him on yet another charge. Following the dropping this week of charges regarding the MK\'s alleged insulting of a police officer, Rubenstein has now charged Lieberman with throwing rocks and hitting his neighbor\'s children in his Judea community of Nokdim. Lieberman denies the charges, and says that this is merely another example of the political use of the Justice Department and the police. It is not clear, however, whether he will be able to serve as a Cabinet minister given the charges hanging against him.
The Education and Justice ministries will go to Sharon\'s own Likud party. MK Tzippy Livni will be the Justice Minister, and the Education Minister will be either Limor Livnat or Meir Shetreet. Shas and the NRP are supporting Livnat, such that her chances of garnering the appointment are very good.
The NRP and Yisrael Beiteinu parties have each been seeking two ministerial appointments, but the Likud has decided that they will have to suffice with one each, plus one or two deputy ministers. United Torah Judaism will not receive a ministry, but rather the chairmanship of the Knesset\'s Finance Committee.
Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yuri Stern was asked today about anonymous \"warnings\" from the direction of the Likud to the effect that \"the small parties had better stop demanding too much, or they\'ll find themselves out of the government altogether.\" Stern told Arutz-7, \"This is just part of the psychological warfare during the negotiations. It was not at all the tone that we heard during our talks with Likud members, and in any event it would be political suicide for the Likud to abandon us.\" Arutz-7\'s Haggai Segal then asked, \"Why? Maybe you\'re viewed as a safe bet, as even if the Likud is abandoned by Labor, you\'ll always be happy to join the Likud government...\"
Stern replied, \"One thing we learned from Netanyahu\'s and Barak\'s terms in office - and especially the way they fell from office - is that a Prime Minister who takes his natural partners for granted and abuses them, falls apart at the end. Arik Sharon understands this very well. \" Stern said that his party is not particularly concerned about the exact guidelines and \"sacrifices for peace, and the like,\" because \"everyone knows that the Palestinians are far from ready to come to any agreement with us, thus that this is a moot point right now. The main issue is how the government will respond to the terrorism.\" He said that his party, and in fact the entire right-wing camp, has not given up on its demand that MK Benny Elon head the Knesset Law Committee: \"It is unprecedented that the chairman of this committee be a Knesset Member who does not support the government.\"
The candidacy of Yisrael Beiteinu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman for a ministerial position is again in doubt, as Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein has indicted him on yet another charge. Following the dropping this week of charges regarding the MK\'s alleged insulting of a police officer, Rubenstein has now charged Lieberman with throwing rocks and hitting his neighbor\'s children in his Judea community of Nokdim. Lieberman denies the charges, and says that this is merely another example of the political use of the Justice Department and the police. It is not clear, however, whether he will be able to serve as a Cabinet minister given the charges hanging against him.