Outgoing Israeli gov't approves expansion of new cabinet

The outgoing Israeli government approved on Sunday a measure to expand the upcoming cabinet up from its current 18 ministers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to bring the measure to the vote of the Knesset (parliament) on Monday.

Monday's vote would be the first political test for Netanyahu and his freshly-formed government, as he will need the support of his 61-member coalition to pass the bill.

In 2013, Netanyahu signed a coalition deal with the center-left Yesh Atid party, in which the latter insisted to change the basic Knesset law and limit the ceiling of the cabinet ministers to 18.

In order to bypass the restriction, Netanyahu needs a majority in the parliament to overrule it.

Yesh Atid chairperson Yair Lapid said over the weekend that if the government would approve the measure, he would appeal to the Supreme Court, charging that an outgoing government cannot promote a change in the basic law for the upcoming administration.

Following the March 17 elections, in which the Likud party received 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, Netanyahu was asked to line-up the government.

After 42 days of intense negotiations, Netanyahu only secured a razor-thin majority coalition with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, as well as the center Kulanu party and the nationalist Jewish Home party.

As Netanyahu negotiated with those parties he distributed vast cabinet positions to other parties. So the prime minister, by having more ministrial posts, is trying to please members of his own party.

Netanyahu will have to his new government inaugurated by Wednesday. He is expected to consult with other lawmakers and decide what positions to hand over to the Likud party.

On a related topic, Israel's Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is expected to object to the coalition agreements that include the one that was formed between the Likud party and the Jewish Home just hours before the deadline to establish a government.

According to their agreement, 50 million shekels (about 13 million U.S. dollars) would be designated in the upcoming year for the settlement division, which is responsible for transferring state funds to develop the infrastructure in the West Bank settlements, the Ha'aretz daily reported.

The daily reported the agreement includes distributing about 160 million shekels a year (about 40 million U.S. dollars) to the Jewish Home and United Torah Judaism in different fields including education, settlement, social affairs and culture. In the Likud's agreement with the United Torah Judaism there's a guarantee to secure 120 million shekels to the six parliament members from the party.

Weinstein said in February that the government must stop allocating funds to the settlement division, whether through the general budget or through other money transfers.

Last month, he wrote in a directive that no funds should be marked as if they "belong" to the parties and that a political agreement should not be implemented if it allocates funds to a specific body.

Stav Shaffir, lawmaker from Labor and also a member of the Knesset's Finance Committee, accused the government earlier this year of secretly funding the settlement division, charging that almost 600 million shekels (over 155 million U.S. dollars) were allocated to the group outside of the general budget. Endit