Work to assemble the next government continued Friday morning as Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, who was assigned the mandate to form a government by President Reuven Rivlin, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, and New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar met at Lapid's home.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The Friday meeting came after Lapid and Bennett met long into the night on Thursday to discuss ministerial appointments after Lapid said he believed in the good intentions of his future coalition partners and vowed a government under his leadership would take Israel out of the crisis.

The work to plan an alternative government began long before Rivlin gave Lapid the mandate. While there is broad agreement about some of the appointments, others will have to be discussed by the various parties that have backed the Lapid government.

As of Friday, it appears that Bennett would be serving first in a two-year rotation for prime minister, followed by Lapid.

Other proposed portfolio assignments include Blue and White leader Benny Gantz as defense minister, the position he currently holds and which he insists on retaining, and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman as Finance Minister.

New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar could be made either defense or justice minister, but the justice portfolio could also go to Yamina No. 2 and former justice minister Ayelet Shaked. Alternatively, Shaked could be assigned the Interior Ministry portfolio, which sources close to Shaked say she would prefer.

MK Matan Kahana (Yamina) is likely to be assigned the religious affairs portfolio, and MK Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope) the education portfolio. There is little dissent about these appointment.

Yesh Atid MK Karin Elharar is a leading candidate for the communications portfolio, Labor MK Omer Barlev could receive the energy portfolio, and Labor leader Merav Michaeli could be assigned either health or public security. Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz is a candidate for those same two ministries.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The transportation, culture and sports, and agriculture portfolios have not yet been assigned, and multiple candidates from all the parties in the coalition are interested.

Bennett, Shaked, and Sa'ar all want to reduce the number of ministers in the cabinet. Lapid wanted the number of ministers to be limited to 18, but it appears that he might have to compromise on 23-24, which would still be far fewer than the number serving in current emergency government

Israel Hayom has learned that some ministries will be shut down: namely the Water Ministry, the Higher Education Ministry, the Community Affairs Ministry, the Settlement Affairs Ministry, and possibly the Cyber and Digital Affairs Ministry, as well.

The post Lapid, Bennett, Sa'ar continue round of meetings to assemble government appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Netanyahu thus named former Coalition Chairman Likud MK David Bitan as the agriculture minister. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) was promoted to the role of Diaspora affairs minister, Likud MK Yifat Shasha-Biton was tapped for the role of labor, welfare, and social services minister, and Shas MK Yitzhak Cohen was appointed as construction and housing minister.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Bitan's appointment is controversial as he is the subject of a bribery investigation.

If indicted, Bitan will have to step down and Netanyahu will have to appoint another minister instead.

The post PM taps ex-coalition chief Bitan, 3 other MKs as ministers appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Going against all the pundits' forecasts and prophecies, he joined Netanyahu's coalition in 2015, then left both the government and his role as defense minister in 2018, which was supposedly not in his political interest. So anyone who thought he would automatically join Netanyahu's fifth government in 2019 wasn't reading the map correctly.

So what does Lieberman want? Ultimately, the current dispute between him and Netanyahu is characteristic of their three-decades-long love-hate relationship. Netanyahu is the star, the one who draws in seats, a prime minister who is supposed to lead, and he and Lieberman share a similar worldview regarding various issues currently on the agenda.

They both used to believe in a presidential system to bring down Hamas, or at least evacuate Khan al-Ahmar. The problem is that when it comes down to it, Netanyahu always allows his policy to be flexible in accordance with the demands of the hour, whereas Lieberman sees himself as someone who doesn't answer to anyone.

So even though the cabinet decided to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar and the prime minister committed to doing so, he sent Lieberman written instructions not to. Or Lieberman, as defense minister, wanted to take major military action in the Gaza Strip, but Prime Minister Netanyahu didn't let him. Or, back in 1996, Lieberman wanted to close the Israel Broadcasting Authority but Netanyahu, who loathed it, nevertheless prevented him from doing so. The same in a thousand other instances over the years.

This has been the dynamic between the two of them since they started working together in 1988. Every so often, Lieberman storms off but eventually joins forces with Netanyahu again after some time has passed. For Lieberman, he can't get along with Bibi, but he can't get along without him. Lieberman has no choice other than to link himself politically to Netanyahu, who wins a lot more votes. But from the time he was director general of the Prime Minister's Office to his terms as foreign minister and defense minister, he quickly loses interest, blows a fuse, and throws a fit, forcing Netanyahu to do what he believes should be done anyway. Then, lacking any other political option, he returns to Netanyahu's embrace and it starts all over again.

In the current circumstances, after his credibility as defense minister crumbled when he didn't take out Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh within 48 hours and because Israel's deterrence against Hamas has slipped since last spring, Lieberman had to shore up his image as a person who keeps to his word. He might be dragging the entire country into a new election, but Netanyahu won't bind his hands as defense minister – at least, that's how Lieberman sees things.

Does he want to topple Netanyahu? There is no proof of that. Lieberman knows that calling an early election is a risk to himself as well as to the prime minister. Voters might up their support of him for keeping his promise on the haredi draft bill. But it is equally likely that voters will punish him for bringing down a right-wing government. So it's hard to find evidence to support the conspiracy theories that Netanyahu was spreading this week. Incidentally, if Lieberman had wanted to bring down Netanyahu, he wouldn't have recommended that President Reuven Rivlin charge him with forming the government and would even have tried to ensure that some other MK – from the Likud or another party – was given that responsibility. But neither of those things happened.

Lieberman's speech at a press conference on Thursday shows that his goal is clear – if the public rewards him at the voting booth and he secures a number of seats in the double digits, he will demand a rotating premiership in coalition negotiations. That is why he won't commit to recommending Netanyahu, but clearly said he would not recommend Blue and White co-leader Benny Gantz either.

Yes, the result of the April 9 election is strange and one that has never happened in the history of Israel. But government crises happen in democracies. Take a look at the news from Great Britain, which has been bogged down in the Brexit crisis for two years already. Or Belgium, Sweden, and Spain, whose governments have been limping along for years, going from one crisis to another – minority governments, transitional governments, or any other kind of unstable governments that are much worse than returning to the polls, even if it means voting twice in a single year.

Given the insanity that characterized the election cycle this past winter, there is some hope that the September election will look different. The April election wasn't about issues – it was replete with spin, lies, and posturing. From far-right activist Moshe Feiglin to the New Right to Blue and White – the public was constantly exposed to manipulations. The public discourse, as we can all recall, was violent and lacked any connection to matters of policy or the nation's future path.

Because the politicians, activists, reporters, and media advisers are tuckered out, there is a chance that the new election will see a greater focus on issues and political fictions, from both the Right and the Left, and attacks will dissipate. Lost seats won't be wasted again. Things will be more mature and the public will know what they are voting for. So while two elections in a year is not something to be desired, it's not something to be horrified over. In the end, this is democracy.

The post Expect the unexpected from Lieberman appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.