Bennett Coalition Crisis Averted, Liberman (Still) to Be Defense Minister
Another
coalition crisis is over in an 11th hour save, this time with UTJ
minister Ya'akov Litzman stepping in with a temporary solution to soothe
frazzled nerves.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett.
Photo Credit: Marc Israel Sellem / POOL
The cabinet voted to approve the appointments of Yisrael Beytenu party chairman Avigdor Liberman as defense minister and party member Sofa Landver as Minister of Aliya and Absorption.
Bennett had threatened to vote against the appointments, together with his party’s ministers – bringing down the government in the process.
If all goes according to plan, the two will be sworn in as ministers by Monday afternoon, after the vote is confirmed in the Knesset plenum.
The resolution came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a mitigating proposal Sunday by Health Minister Ya’akov Litzman of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party.
Under the plan, the acting head of the National Security Council, Brig.-Gen. (ret) Ya’akov Nagel – or his deputy – would temporarily act as military attache to the security cabinet.
He would remain in place until a committee to be formed by Netanyahu and headed by former NSC head Ya’akov Amidror is tasked with finding a way to meet Bennett’s demands on upgrading cabinet briefings without compromising national security, and returns with its recommendations.
Bennett had threatened to take his ministers and his eight party mandates and leave the coalition unless security cabinet members received one-to-one military attaches, access to classified information, field operations sites and IDF bases, and real-time security updates.
In order to keep the 61-seat coalition government in place, Netanyahu has needed to keep Bennett’s party on board.
Hana Levi Julian
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