The Marker, Gili Melnitsky, 12.10.2020

Following talks held last night (Sunday) by representatives of the ultra-Orthodox parties with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it appears that Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) will resign this morning and be appointed Minister of Finance, who holds the construction and housing portfolio.

Cohen's political dance is expected to take place only to prepare for the return of Yaakov Litzman to the government, after he resigned from it before entering the closure as a protest-declaratory move to close synagogues for gatherings during the Tishrei holidays.

The political acrobatics that Cohen performs are the best arrangement Litzman has managed to find for himself in order to return to office. This, after refusing the possibility of returning to the post of minister - for a veto imposed by the Rebbe of residence , and for personal reasons - allowing him to remain in the post of deputy minister, in case the criminal cases against him are promoted - and then he will be forced to resign if he serves as minister.

MK Yitzhak Cohen Photo: Ofer Vaknin

In the absence of standards for vacant deputy ministers at the Likud, it is necessary to apply to the Blue and White Party - which has vacant standards for deputy ministers under coalition agreements. Blue and White could have given its free standard to Litzman, but in return they tried to force Litzman to maintain the rotation between Netanyahu and Ganz. Litzman refused and therefore had to find another alternative - which came from the direction of the other ultra-Orthodox party, Shas.

Another motive that contributed to the expected new arrangement is the preference of the ultra-Orthodox parties to preserve the Ministry of Construction and Housingunder an ultra-Orthodox minister, so that the housing sector remains under ultra-Orthodox control, in an attempt to remedy the ultra-Orthodox housing crisis. The appointments are expected to come for government approval in the coming days.