Report: Netanyahu Offered Herzog 9 Portfolios

A report on Channel Ten said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had offered Zionist Camp head Yitzchak Herzog nine ministries if his party were to join the government. Netanyahu has not commented on the report, and sources close to him downplayed it.

Nevertheless, according to Channel Ten, a unity government is closer than ever. There are a total of 30 ministerial posts in the government, and Netanyahu himself holds four of them, besides his own position, so it’s likely those posts – including Minister of Economy, Foreign Minister, Communications Minister, and Minister of Regional Cooperation, would go to Zionist Camp. That leaves five positions which need to be vacated – and according to the report, the posts to be vacated would come at the expense of Jewish Home and Shas.

Commenting on the report, Herzog confidante MK Eitan Cabel said that the party had not received a “serious offer” from Netanyahu. “Unity governments can do important things, but if they are not going to then there is no point in joining one,” he said on Army Radio Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, other members of the party predicted that, even if talks were going on, any deal would fall apart once party MKs were asked to approve it. “Herzog is prepared to crawl into Netanyahu’s government with no conditions, without addressing the ideological differences between us,” said MK Miki Rosenthal. “It’s up to Shelly Yechimovich,” (the leading opposition to Herzog in the party and a strong opponent of joining the government) said Rosenthal.

“We will not be able to criticize a government we are part of.”