Likud Woes Over ‘Israeli’ Coalition Assembly Mount

By Staff, Agencies

With coalition talks to set up the Zionist entity’s next government making little headway, the Likud party headed by prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu ran into more trouble on Sunday when a key partner, the far-right Otzma Yehudit, declared it was breaking off negotiations over a sharp disagreement on proposed ministerial posts.

Otzma Yehudit said the Likud was looking to walk back a deal to appoint a member of the far-right party as the next head of the so-called Ministry for the Development of al-Naqab and the Galilee.

Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir is already gunning for the ‘Public Security’ Ministry, but with his party holding six seats in the Knesset, he’s hoping to claim at least one more portfolio.

“Contrary to an earlier agreement, the Likud retracted and now refuses to give the additional ministry — the Negev, the Galilee and the social periphery — to Otzma Yehudit,” an unnamed party official told media outlets.

It was the latest hurdle thrown up by Netanyahu’s prospective coalition partners as he tries to negotiate agreements among a bloc of right and religious parties led by his Likud to establish a government following their victory in the November 1 election.

Netanyahu is already at an impasse with another far-right party, Religious Zionism, whose leader — Bezalel Smotrich — has stubbornly demanded the position of war minister or finance minister in the prospective coalition.