Israel has the biggest...
What has Israel got that is the largest in the world? The Cabinet! The Cabinet of PM Bibi Netanyahu that was sworn in on Monday is the largest, at 30 members, of all Governments in the Western world. The new Israeli Governent was ratified on Tuesday by the Knesset, 69-45. By comparison Britain and the US have 22 members, and France has 21 Cabinet members.
When he was PM ten years ago, Netanayhu vowed to have the smallest Cabinet and kept it down to 18 members. However, he learned a hard lesson, although it is good to be an idealist and try to save the country money, in the long run it comes back to bite you. All the Likud members and others he left out of his first Cabinet combined to oppose him and finished him off politically.
So this time, he opened his arms and gave a Cabinet position to everyone in sight. His situation was difficult, because in order to get Israel Beitanu into his Coalition he had to give Avigdor Lieberman the Foreign Ministry, as well as several other Ministries to his followers. In order to get Labor into the Coalition, he had to give the Defense portfolio to Ehud Barak, and several other Ministries to his followers. Then there was Shas and the other right wing and religious parties, so more Ministries being doled out. Then finally today he gave appointments, the crumbs left over, to people in his own party, Likud, and to avoid future splits and animosities he had to give away the store. In order to make enough Ministries, some were divided, for example the Ministry of Sport, Culture and Science, was divided into the Ministry of Sport and Culture and the Ministry of Science. Next time around they'll divide the Ministry of Sport and Culture! Although he managed to antagonize Silvan Shalom, his main rival in Likud, he did appoint him Deputy Premier, a position previously made up for Shimon Peres under similar circumstances. So this might keep Shalom at bay for a while.
One interesting surprise is that Netanyahu has given the Treasury position to Yuval Steinitz, one of the more honest and intelligent politicians around. Netanyahu was expected to keep this Ministry for himself, due to his previous experience there and the current economic crisis. But, this is presumably a reward to Steinitz for his loyalty in conducting the Coalition negotiations for Netanyahu. The only drawback is that Steinitz is known as a defense policy expert. Another defense expert, Moshe "Boogey" Yaalon was not given the Denense portfolio because it had to been given to Barak, but instead he was given the portfolio for Strategic Affairs..
So now the Cabinet is set to meet for the first time around a (larger) table. Have you ever heard of 30 people agreeing on anything, especially when there are left wingers (Labor) and right wingers (National Union) around the same Table? In Israel, the Government decisions are voted on by the Cabinet and hopefully there won't be a 15:15 split, although if there is Bibi will have the deciding vote.
The real question is why should Israel, the smallest democracy, have the largest Cabinet. Maybe it's because we have the largest amount of money to give away?
When he was PM ten years ago, Netanayhu vowed to have the smallest Cabinet and kept it down to 18 members. However, he learned a hard lesson, although it is good to be an idealist and try to save the country money, in the long run it comes back to bite you. All the Likud members and others he left out of his first Cabinet combined to oppose him and finished him off politically.
So this time, he opened his arms and gave a Cabinet position to everyone in sight. His situation was difficult, because in order to get Israel Beitanu into his Coalition he had to give Avigdor Lieberman the Foreign Ministry, as well as several other Ministries to his followers. In order to get Labor into the Coalition, he had to give the Defense portfolio to Ehud Barak, and several other Ministries to his followers. Then there was Shas and the other right wing and religious parties, so more Ministries being doled out. Then finally today he gave appointments, the crumbs left over, to people in his own party, Likud, and to avoid future splits and animosities he had to give away the store. In order to make enough Ministries, some were divided, for example the Ministry of Sport, Culture and Science, was divided into the Ministry of Sport and Culture and the Ministry of Science. Next time around they'll divide the Ministry of Sport and Culture! Although he managed to antagonize Silvan Shalom, his main rival in Likud, he did appoint him Deputy Premier, a position previously made up for Shimon Peres under similar circumstances. So this might keep Shalom at bay for a while.
One interesting surprise is that Netanyahu has given the Treasury position to Yuval Steinitz, one of the more honest and intelligent politicians around. Netanyahu was expected to keep this Ministry for himself, due to his previous experience there and the current economic crisis. But, this is presumably a reward to Steinitz for his loyalty in conducting the Coalition negotiations for Netanyahu. The only drawback is that Steinitz is known as a defense policy expert. Another defense expert, Moshe "Boogey" Yaalon was not given the Denense portfolio because it had to been given to Barak, but instead he was given the portfolio for Strategic Affairs..
So now the Cabinet is set to meet for the first time around a (larger) table. Have you ever heard of 30 people agreeing on anything, especially when there are left wingers (Labor) and right wingers (National Union) around the same Table? In Israel, the Government decisions are voted on by the Cabinet and hopefully there won't be a 15:15 split, although if there is Bibi will have the deciding vote.
The real question is why should Israel, the smallest democracy, have the largest Cabinet. Maybe it's because we have the largest amount of money to give away?
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:55 AM
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