Coalition Talks Continue: Justice Ministry to Blue and White, Internal Security to Likud

As part of the ongoing unity government talks, it seems that there is an agreement between the sides over the Justice Ministry, with MK Avi Nissenkorn of Blue and White to receive that portfolio. The Internal Security Ministry in the hands of the Likud, with MK Miri Regev to receive that portfolio.

Channel 12 reported that the main sticking points in the talks remain final agreement on who will serve as Knesset speaker, as well as the issue of annexation of Israeli communities in Yehudah and Shomron and the Jordan Valley, which the Likud and its partners support and which Blue and White does not.

The Likud has also been pushing for Yuli Edelstein to resume his position of Knesset Speaker, after he left the position in protest of a High Court order for him to hold a vote that saw his ouster. The Blue and White Party has refused to have Edelstein return. Minister Yariv Levin has been floated as a possible replacement for the speakership.

While the two parties are expected to eventually reach a compromise on the posts, the larger contentions seems to be over the Israeli annexation, with Likud and its right-wing partners demanding that this be a requisite for forming a government, while Blue and White opposes a unilateral action, calling instead for a negotiated deal.