Even before the next government officially takes over, the ideologically divided Likud-led cabinet appears fragile and faces the threat of withdrawal of one coalition partner. Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu supposedly promised his greatest inter-party challenger, Silvan Shalom, the post of Foreign Minister in the event that Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, tapped to head the Foreign Ministry in the next government, becomes officially indicted due to accusations of fraud and money laundering. However, Lieberman maintained that his party would quit the coalition if the post does not remain with Yisrael Beiteinu. Netanyahu promised the post to his own Likud rival due to Shalom’s lack of a portfolio in the upcoming government. Meanwhile, the list of ministers expanded to 30 positions, the largest in Israel’s history. Notably, Yuval Steinitz will serve as the next Finance Minister, a post Netanyahu originally intended on keeping for himself.
