Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon's lack of enthusiasm about Minister of Construction and Housing Yoav Galant, his number two in Kulanu, has been noticeable for months. He does not like Galant's aloofness, his occasional implied threat to join the Likud, and certainly not the fact that since former Minister of Defense Moshe Ya'alon left office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made Galant the senior member in the Security Cabinet. It is also being said that Galant, in contrast to Housing Cabinet chief Avigdor Yitzhaki, who sweats blood, fights and storms, comes through as weak in the war against the bureaucracy in control of housing, and does not believe that it is necessary to combat foot-dragging by officials.
Perhaps Kahlon thinks that he made a mistake by appointing Galant, his first choice in the heady days of preparing the Kulanu party list. He made Galant number two because he thought that a party striving for center stage needed a security expert. Kahlon the minister, however, has deliberately avoided getting involved in security, strategy, and the structure of the future battlefield any more than he has to. Kahlon is preoccupied with "righting social wrongs," as he puts it, and he has committed to reducing housing prices, which meanwhile are still gaily climbing. Furthermore, Kahlon's future, regardless of whether he runs in the next elections, or later, as leader of the Likud in the post-Netanyahu era, head-to-head against Netanyahu's Likud, or at the head of a new renewed updated center bloc arising with the remnants of the angry and the dreamy, will not be based on security. General (res.) Galant has thus slowly become superfluous.
Kahlon is a good man, however, and it is important for him to keep his promises and avoid injuring people, certainly someone who stuck with him, and to avoid making his party seem unstable. On the other hand, he really needs someone more determined, tough, and aggressive in the Ministry of Construction and Housing. Galant shows no sign that it is the love of his life. In general, Likudniks are always happy to take MKs away from other parties, so they are constantly beckoning to him to come over to them.
The "uncollegial and unfriendly" door slam by former Minister of Environmental Protection Avi Gabai a few months ago actually opened a big window for Kahlon. It also fits in with the appointment plans of Netanyahu, who has finally despaired of the Zionist Union band on the run, even though he has several in his pocket who would be glad to enter his government. There are several loyalists around Netanyahu who are definitely dissatisfied. He has to appease them somehow. So Kahlon and Netanyahu are working together on a new order in the government. In meetings between the two, it has already been agreed that the Ministry of the Economy and Industry, minus labor, will pass to Kahlon and Kulanu. For Kahlon's public relations, it will be said that Galant is being promoted to Minister of the Economy because of the importance of the great economic reforms awaiting Israel in the 2017-2018 budget.
The problem is that Netanyahu is not ready for a government reshuffle. It could be that he has not yet finished toying with the Zionist Union. Netanyahu has four portfolios vacant: foreign affairs, communications, economy, and environmental protection, and four embittered ministers. In any event, the changes are meant to happen all at once. The Likud ministers waiting in line are Tzachi Hanegbi, who agreed to replace Netanyahu as minister responsible for Bezeq, and is not really happy with this role, which looks more ridiculous than serious. If he is already doing that, why not go all the way and make him minister of communications? Ze'ev Elkin is bored with being minister of Jerusalem affairs. He could be given environment. Haim Katz is a man in a hurry. Minister of welfare and social services is not enough for him, and he wants the labor ministry that will be split from the economy ministry, together with daycare centers for children up to three years old and the vocational schools, that were supposed to have been transferred to the Ministry of Education long ago, mainly because that was the right thing to do. Someone else who isn't happy is Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin, who is due for an upgrade, but will probably not come in the coming reshuffle, although the prime minister will remain greatly in his debt.
Only after Netanyahu places his people will Kahlon (who constantly hints that according to the coalition formula he should get another ministry but he lets it go so as not to look politically greedy) be able to decide what to do with his.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 14, 2016
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