Confirmed: Netanyahu to Appoint Bennett Education Minister. But what else?

T. Belman. Bibi is gutting the key reforms of the last government having to due with the conversion law and the draft law. I would have preferred to have Yesh Atid  in the government instead of UTJ and Shas. But this was not to be.

While Bennett is asking for more Jerusalem construction he is not asking for construction in J&S. Why not? Bibi on the other hand hasn’t granted either.

 

After coalition crisis as Jewish Home walks out of talks, Likud tells party its request for education portfolio will be granted.

By Ido Ben-Porat, INN

After Jewish Home cut off coalition negotiations, Likud representatives have indicated to the party Tuesday night that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will grant its chairman Naftali Bennett his request to become the education minister in the coalescing coalition.

Bennett lost no time in demanding a budget increase for the ministry to the tune of a billion shekels ($260 million) according to Channel 2, with the large expenses meant to add an additional assistant in every kindergarten with over 30 children, and to continue the summer camp program initiated by previous Education Minister Shai Piron (Yesh Atid).

Earlier Jewish Home met to express its anger over how coalition talks with Likud are progressing slowly, with one senior MK in the party even suggesting that it turn turn to the leftist Labor party to turn up the heat on Netanyahu.

The coalition agreements being formulated are also to advance a law allowing Israeli citizens abroad to vote, which Netanyahu has pushed for since 1997 under the assumption that most Israelis abroad tend to vote for the nationalist camp.

Jewish Home’s demands to curb Supreme Court activism are also to be included in the coalition agreements other than the agreement with Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party, which opposes reducing the Supreme Court’s power.

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri meanwhile is demanding to be appointed minister in three portfolios – finance, religious affairs and a portfolio that was not detailed. Jewish Home continues to oppose Shas’s demand for complete control of the Religious Affairs Ministry, while the finance ministry looks more likely to go to Kulanu.

An agreement between Kulanu and Likud is being held up due to Kahlon’s demand that former IDF commander Yoav Galant of his party be added to the Security Cabinet. Netanyahu has firmly rejected this demand.

Earlier on Tuesday the haredi party United Torah Judaism (UTJ) reached a coalition agreement draft with Likud, with the draft to be brought beforePrime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and UTJ’s rabbinical council. It is expected to receive a final signing either later Tuesday night or else Wednesday morning.

Among the agreements that UTJ was able to achieve in the talks is a cancellation of the cut in budgets for yeshiva Torah academies which the outgoing coalition government implemented, as well as a freeze on the controversial conversion law.

April 29, 2015 | 3 Comments »
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  1. I had read and seen a clip as to why it took so long to give Bennett the Education Ministry. I wish I could find that clip now!

    Apparently it was the secular Israelis that were concerned about having a Torah Jew be Minister of Education. They were concerned he would be too religious.

    It’s too bad that even Jews haven’t figured out that there is nothing ‘religious’ about Judaism. True – there are some Jews that have turned it into a religion. Bennett is not one of them.

  3. Exclusive: Deal Reached for Expansion in Judea and Samaria

    In the wake of demands by the Tekuma component of Jewish Home, Arutz Sheva has learned that the head of the Amana construction firm, Ze’ev Haver (“Zombish”), one of the most influential members of the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria, has come to a “quiet understanding” with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

    The two have been discussing the needs of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria via “back channels” – and Ya’alon has promised that the new government will ensure that those needs are satisfied.

    According to sources, the government will commit to spending between NIS 300 and 500 million ($75 and $125 million dollars) each year over the next four years for construction, infrastructure, roads, transportation, and other needs that will ensure that new residents of towns in Judea and Samaria can be absorbed without difficulty.

    Among the projects are 12 new roads in Judea and Samaria, among them a new road that will bypass the Shechem-area village of Hawara – a flashpoint for attacks on Israeli drivers – as well as new roads to Eli, Emanuel, and other Western Samaria towns, and a widening of the north-south Road 60.

    Three new parks are also on the drawing board, as are new student housing in Ariel for university students, and a park and trail in Gush Etzion in memory of Gilad Sha’ar, Naftali Frankel, and Eyal Yifrah, the three Israeli teens who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists last year.

    Over the next year, some 1,700 homes are expected to be sold in Judea and Samaria. With the government’s help, that number is expected to exceed 3,000 the following year. Among the currently available homes, 297 are in Beit El, 300 are in Ariel, 200 are in Eli, and 2,000 others throughout the rest of the regions.

    Because he fears pressure from the administration of US President Barack H. Obama, said the sources, Netanyahu cannot openly declare his support for the arrangement.

    Earlier, sources in the Tekuma component of Jewish Home said they would insist that Tekuma’s demands for a a clear directive to significantly increase building in Judea and Samaria be written into a coalition agreement between Jewish Home and Likud.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/194761#.VUD6WiFViko