The scheduled appointment of Knesset Speaker Yitzhak Shamir as Foreign Minister today has been postponed until the “status of the Liberals in the government is improved,” Premier Menachem Begin promised a delegation of the Liberal Party several days ago. The Liberals demanded that more government portfolios be given to their representatives, and Begin agreed in principle. Details have to be worked out.
Ever since the resignation of Simcha Ehrlich as Finance Minister the Liberals no longer hold an influential portfolio in the Cabinet. Originally they wanted one of their representatives appointed Foreign Minister after Moshe Dayan resigned four months ago, but they were unable to come up with a suitable candidate.
The Liberals presently hold four portfolios: Deputy Premier (Ehrlich), Industry (Gideon Patt) Energy (Yitzhak Modai), and Minister-Without-Portfolio (Moshe Nissim). Herut holds the portfolios of Premiership, Defense (Ezer Weizman), Construction and Housing (David Levy) and Transportation (Haim Landau). Shamir is also a member of Herut.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
