Shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mandate to build a coalition runs out on Tuesday, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid are expected to form what they are calling an Israeli unity government.
Bennett and Lapid have already held intense discussions over portfolios in the government that they are working to put together.
Bennett’s main demand has been that key ideological portfolios be given to ministers of Yamina and Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party.
Lapid has said that several ministries that have been created over recent years are no longer necessary.
Very little has been leaked about handing out portfolios, including to top figures in some of the parties. Nevertheless, it is still possible to guess which portfolio will go to whom, in a government that is expected to contain 24 ministers, including the prime minister.
Prime Minister: Naftali Bennett (Yamina)
Alternate Prime Minister/Foreign Affairs: Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid)
Defense: Benny Gantz (Blue and White)
Finance: Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu)
Justice: Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope)
Education: Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope)
Interior: Ayelet Shaked (Yamina)
Health: Merav Michaeli (Labor)
Environmental Protection: Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz)
Public Security: Orna Barbivai (Yesh Atid)
Economy: Omer Bar-Lev (Labor)
Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services: Tamar Zandberg (Meretz)
Transportation: Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid)
Construction and Housing: Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid)
Tourism: Yoaz Hendel (New Hope)
Religious Affairs: Matan Kahana (Yamina)
Culture and Sports: Chili Tropper (Blue and White)
Aliyah and Integration: Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu)
Agriculture and Rural Development: Alon Schuster (Blue and White)
Negev and Galilee Development and Social Equity: Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid)
Energy: Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid)
Science and Technology: Yoel Razvozov (Yesh Atid)
Jerusalem Affairs, Ministerial Liaison to the Knesset: Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope)
Communications: Eli Avidar (Yisrael Beytenu)
Knesset Speaker: Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid)
Knesset Finance Committee chairman: Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid)
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman: Yair Golan (Meretz)
The following ministries are to be dismantled: Diaspora Affairs, Strategic Affairs, Regional Cooperation, Intelligence Services, Community Development, Community Affairs, Cyber, Higher Education and Water.