The current headache in Likud is called Bezalel Smotrich. The stubborn partner, the very sophisticated ideologue is not the child of the caputs that Netanyahu may have been used to in his dealings with the leaders of religious Zionism to this day. As it seems at the moment, Smotrich is ready to go all the way in the fight for the top case – security or treasury.
Despite this, Likud is trying to push Smotrich to accept another portfolio. Initially it was the education file that very quickly dropped from the chapter, when now the center of pressure has shifted to the justice file. The goal is to bring Smotrich there along with other powers, but in the meantime he sticks to his position of getting the security portfolio. After pressuring him to accept the treasury portfolio, Netanyahu is now trying to reverse the decision and convince Deri to give up the treasury in favor of Smotrich, and to serve as defense minister, in order to resolve the coalition floundering.
It now appears that Smotrich feels disconnected from Netanyahu after the two last met on Wednesday, and is trying to get backing from partners. Yesterday he met with Aryeh Deri in an attempt to bridge the gaps regarding the distribution of the cases when earlier he also met with Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf in favor of “coordination and cooperation towards the formation of the government”. Netanyahu, for his part, continues the game. ‘, is moving forward and receiving a green light from him. At the same time, Otzma Yehudit’s teams sat down today with Likud representatives.
As long as the contacts are at a standstill, they affect the rest of the talks related to the coalition negotiations and it is impossible to move forward with the other parties and members of Likud. In Likud there is unrest around the matter and MKs are isolated and not invited to meetings. Officials in the negotiations did not rule out that the complex problems between the parties could lead to a delay in the negotiations, unless one of the parties is the one to blink first.
The deal that will be resolved between Deri and Smotrich will not only include the treasury, but also agreements on the religion portfolio and the division of the portfolios that will be left to Likud and will be able to complete the puzzle. In addition, Netanyahu is waiting for an answer from Ron Dermer on the proposal to appoint him as foreign minister. In the event that he responds positively to the proposal, Amir Ohana is expected to accept the position of Speaker of the Knesset and leave the MKs who wanted to accept the position to continue bickering over the other cases.