Yitzhak Rabin seems to have nearly all the pieces in place to form a governing coalition, with most of his potential partners apparently in agreement on how to bridge their political differences.
Now the final, but trickiest, part of the coalition patchwork is under way: assigning the Cabinet posts. At stake in this stage is no longer principle, but power and pride.
“It’s a complex puzzle,” said Labor’s Haim Ramon, who is expected to be named health minister. “It will take a couple of days, but I believe we will present our government to the nation on Monday next as scheduled, when the Knesset opens its first session.”
The first public fight over the Cabinet erupted Tuesday, as Rafael Eitan, leader of the right-wing Tsomet party, seemed in line to be named minister of education. This incited vigorous objections from the left-wing Meretz bloc.
Meretz claims that as the largest of Labor’s potential coalition partners, it should have the pick of the ministries up for grabs. Meretz believes the gruff-spoken Eitan, a former army chief of staff, is a poor choice for education.
Meanwhile, two outgoing Likud ministers, Justice Minister Dan Meridor and Police Minister Ronni Milo, spoke out Tuesday against Shas leader Arye Deri joining the new government.
Deri had deposited a letter with Rabin on Monday pledging to suspend himself from the Cabinet if criminal charges were filed against him. Investigations have been under way for two years concerning allegations of both public and private financial improprieties.
Outgoing Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir had drawn criticism for allowing Deri to continue serving as interior minister once he was under investigation, especially after Deri refused to cooperate with the police.
But Meridor and Milo said that appointing Deri to a new government was different than not firing him from the old one.
“This is a new norm for Israel,” Meridor said, “and not in the right direction.”
But Ramon of Labor dismissed this argument as hypocritical. He said Deri’s letter to Rabin represents a new norm in the right direction.
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.
