Likud government will include only one female minister

A narrow Likud-led government is likely to include a lot of new faces, but only one woman: former minister Limor Livnat. That would contradict party chairman Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu's campaign pledge to give women "fair representation" in his cabinet.

Likud sources also said yesterday that the "narrow government" is likely to be even narrower than expected - a mere 61 MKs instead of 65. That is because Netanyahu may opt not to bring in National Union, for fear of adverse reactions in both the local and international media. One of National Union's four Knesset members, Michael Ben-Ari, used to belong to Meir Kahane's Kach movement, which both Israel and the United States have labeled a terrorist organization.

"Bibi himself has no problem with this, but he is certainly worried about the reaction, the media image," said one.

In contrast, the sources said, Netanyahu has no problem making Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avidgor "Yvet" Lieberman foreign minister, even though Lieberman has also been branded in the local and international press as a racist.

"This is both because he [Netanyahu] admires him, and because he knows that Yvet can be tamed. More accurately, Yvet knows how to tame himself if necessary," said one.

About half of the ministers Likud is expected to appoint have not served in the cabinet previously: MKs Gideon Sa'ar, Gilad Erdan, Moshe Kahlon, Yuval Steinitz, Yuli Edelstein, Michael Eitan and Moshe Ya'alon. Former ministers likely to return to the cabinet include Silvan Shalom, Dan Meridor, Benny Begin, Yisrael Katz and Livnat.

None of the other parties are expected to appoint any female ministers, leaving Livnat as the only woman in the cabinet. Shas, United Torah Judaism, National Union and Habayit Hayehudi have no female MKs at all. And while Yisrael Beiteinu has several, the party's ministerial candidates are Lieberman, Uzi Landau, Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Stas Misezhnikov - plus current Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, who is neither an MK nor a member of Yisrael Beiteinu, but whom Lieberman wants to keep in the job instead of appointing a candidate of his own.

The highest-ranking female MK on Likud's Knesset slate is Lea Nass, and she believes this entitles her to a ministry. However, Netanyahu apparently prefers Livnat, who ranked lower in the primary but has been a minister before.

Likud MK Reuven Rivlin, who might normally also be a ministerial candidate, will apparently be satisfied with the job of Knesset speaker instead.

The major problem Netanyahu will face in allocating ministerial portfolios is how to compensate his own party for the fact that Yisrael Beiteinu will receive many of the most coveted posts. Lieberman's party will apparently receive both the Foreign Ministry and the Justice Ministry, thereby disappointing both Shalom, who wanted the former, and Sa'ar, who wanted the latter. These are two of Likud's most powerful MKs, and Netanyahu must therefore find some way to pacify them.