Sa'ar, Netanyahu sign coalition agreement

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United Right chairman and foreign minister-elect MK Gideon Sa’ar signed a coalition agreement on Wednesday morning, officially cementing Sa’ar’s entry into the coalition.

According to the agreement, Sa’ar will become foreign minister, and fellow party member MK Ze’ev Elkin will become a minister within the Finance Ministry, who will receive authority over the directorates responsible for rehabilitating the North and South, as well as joining the team responsible for deciding the day-after the war in Gaza.

Another party member, MK Sharren Haskel, will become deputy foreign minister.

Increase in budget 

The foreign ministry will also receive a NIS 545 million budget increase for public diplomacy (hasbara). According to a statement by Sa’ar, the budget will go towards “media campaigns abroad, in the foreign press, on social media, and more.”

These will include “concentrated activity on US campuses to change their attitude towards Israel and its policies while cooperating with the Jewish community in the US and without harming the activity of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.”

Sa’ar will also take a “permanent part” in security and diplomatic consultations, including on the topic of the “Iranian nuclear plan.”

The coalition agreement was signed after Sa’ar first joined the government in September as a minister-without-portfolio, without committing to coalition protocols. The new agreement means that Sa’ar’s four MKs are now committed to coalition discipline. It is unclear whether or not they will support bill initiatives to exempt haredi (ultra-Orthodox) yeshiva students from military service, which Sa’ar said recently he would oppose.

In addition, Sa’ar’s party will receive veto power over bills related to the government’s judicial reform, as well as regarding issues of religion and state.

The agreement came after Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening that he was removing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in favor of Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Katz’s departure from the foreign ministry enabled the prime minister to appoint Sa’ar to the position.

Later on Wednesday, Coalition Whip Ofir Katz announced that sanctions were being applied to two MKs in the Likud who said publicly that they opposed the haredi daycare bill, which incentivizes IDF draft evasion of haredi yeshiva students.

Dan Illouz will be removed from his position as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and Economy Committee and will be prevented from proposing new bills for a month and a half. Yuli Edelstein also will not be able to propose bills for a month. Yisrael Beytenu faction coordinator MK Oded Forer announced that his party would offer Illouz and Edelstein to use some of its quota of bill proposals, saying they should be rewarded and not punished for their actions.