New government to have Druze minister due to dispute

The new government that is set to be sworn in on Sunday night will have a Druze minister in Hamed Amar, because of a rare fight inside Yisrael Beytenu.Amar will be a second minister in the Finance Ministry under party chairman Avigdor Liberman, a post rejected over the weekend by MK Eli Avidar.Every party sent a list of who would be appointed to each ministerial post on Saturday, night except Yisrael Beytenu. Liberman appointed MK Oded Forer to the combined position of Agriculture minister and Negev and Galilee development minister, which Avidar wanted.The chairmanship of the powerful Knesset finance committee was given to Amar.But Avidar refused to serve under Finance Minister Liberman and told him that he would rather remain a regular MK. Liberman decided to promote Amar to the cabinet and give the Finance Committee chairmanship to MK Alex Kushnir.

Amar will be one of two non-Jews in the cabinet, along with Regional Cooperation Minister Essawi Frej of Meretz.There will also be a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office from the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party.Avidar will vote for the government. But he is threatening to break off from Yisrael Beytenu and serve as an independent MK, which would be the ninth faction in the coalition.
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