On Monday night, the Knesset voted narrowly, 59-56, to authorise Benjamin Netanyahu’s appointment as Defence Minister.
The defence brief — and the Immigration Absorption ministry — have now been crammed into his bulging portfolio of job titles following the resignation of Yisrael Beiteinu ministers last month.
The Prime Minister was already also the Foreign Minister and the Health Minister, even though the latter ministry is mainly run by United Torah Judaism leader Yaakov Litzman.
We are told Mr Netanyahu plans to appoint new foreign and immigration ministers in the near future, but three weeks since the Yisrael Beiteinu resignations, he has yet to inform eager Likud MKs who will win the prize of an upgrade.
This case of multiple hats on one head is expected to be challenged soon in the High Court. That may spur him to finally divest a few, but even those within government sharply critical of his move to keep the defence ministry for himself — like the Jewish Home ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked — were forced to vote in favour of his appointment in the Knesset.
Criticism from the civil service is muted, and not just because civil servants can only make their views plain on an off-the-record basis.
Officials in the ministries he controls say the policies set by the current government are being carried through regardless.
Not having a minister in an election year to make all kinds of sudden expensive decisions can be a plus, one of them adds.
The situation cannot last forver: Mr Netanyahu will have to redistribute portfolios at some stage in 2019 when he forms his next coalition — assuming he wins the election, which he probably will.
At the defence ministry, which is a bastion of long-serving officials and generals, policies do not change often. This is not the first time that the prime minister of Israel has served as defence minister as well. Indeed, half of Israel’s prime ministers did so, some for many years, and many of the key security decisions have always been taken by the PM.
But the one place where officials are complaining about the lack of a full-time minister is the Foreign Ministry, where Mr Netanyahu has been in charge since early 2015.
Senior diplomats have long lamented the lack of serious policy planning and the erosion of their budget.
“Netanyahu believes that we don’t really need a professional diplomatic corps,” says one. “We have him as Israel’s elder statesman, and now as defence minister as well. He seems to think it’s enough.”
