Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud faction on Wednesday reached an agreement with the religious Zionist Bayit Yehudi on the formation of a rightist coalition, Israel Radio reported.
The agreement, which was struck just two hours before the final deadline for Netanyahu to cobble together a ruling government, paves the way for a narrow, 61-seat coalition.
The two sides came to an understanding whereby Bayit Yehudi’s Ayelet Shaked will be named justice minister and will retain most of the powers and privileges entailed in that position, including a seat at the diplomatic-security cabinet, according to Israel Radio.
Shaked will not, however, be granted authority over the committee in charge of nominating religious court judges.
Bennett, the Bayit Yehudi chairman, will take over as education minister. He will also be responsible for the overseeing the government’s ties with the Diaspora.
Uri Ariel will leave his post as housing minister and take up the position of agriculture minister. He will also be the top ministerial official in charge of the Settlement Division.
Bayit Yehudi will also receive a deputy minister’s position in the Defense Ministry as well as the chairmanship of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee.
According to Israel Radio, Bennett and Netanyahu came to the understanding in a phone conversation. Both factions are due to sign an agreement formally on Thursday.
By law, if Netanyahu failed to form a government by midnight on Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin would have been required to call upon another MK - presumably Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog or an MK from Likud - to form a government or initiate a general election.
Prior to Wednesday evening's agreement with Bayit Yehudi, the prime minister had already clinched deals set with Kulanu, United Torah Judaism and Shas, which together with the Likud’s 30 lawmakers, gave him 53 MKs.
But Bayit Yehudi played hard to get on Tuesday, purposely not returning repeated calls and messages from Netanyahu’s associates. Leader Naftali Bennett’s associates said during the day that he would only speak to Netanyahu directly to reach a deal.
By evening, the Bayit Yehudi chairman agreed to send his political adviser Shalom Shlomo to meet with the prime minister’s lawyer David Shimron to work out the details of a coalition agreement. Bennett and Netanyahu are expected to meet to finalize the deal on Wednesday.
A Bayit Yehudi spokesman would not confirm reports that the party’s demands included the Foreign Ministry for Bennett, the Justice portfolio for MK Ayelet Shaked and the Education Ministry for current Construction Minister Uri Ariel.
The Likud released a statement on Tuesday denying that Netanyahu’s associates had mocked the offer or attacked Bennett.
“Throughout the day there were various quotes attributed to sources close to the prime minister,” the statement said.
“We want to clarify that no statement or briefing came from the party or the prime minister.”
Among the quotes attributed was: “The Right will never forgive Bennett if he prevents the formation of a right-wing government because he craved portfolios.”