Fat Government

Nickname for Benjamin Netanyahu’s ministry-bloated Israeli government.

“Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition negotiations have rewarded us with many absurdities: Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister; Yisrael Beiteinu in charge of the Public Security Ministry; and the reverse somersault of Ehud Barak,” Yossi Verter wrote in Haaretz.

But we may not have witnessed the grand finale yet: If last night’s prognoses become reality and we wake up this morning to a cabinet of29 ministers and six deputy ministers (for parts of ministries and new ministries), we will know that this is not the dawn of a new day, and that nothing has changed.

What Barak and Ariel Sharon did before him, Netanyahu proved he can do more: more bloated, more wasteful, more hedonistic. Whatever the cost, so long as the lads are happy. …

In 1996 Netanyahu set up a slim government with only 18 ministers. He was always proud of that, and justifiably so. Because he insisted on the principle of an efficient and thrifty government, he was dragged into World War III with Silvan Shalom, who did not get a spot in that cabinet.

Thirteen years later Netanyahu is setting up a fat government with lots of ministries, and only one thing remains unchanged: the fight with Silvan.

(When Avigdor Lieberman became Netanyahu’s first coalition partner some commentators nicknamed the emerging government the Biberman Administration — a portmanteau of Netanyahu’s nickname, “Bibi,” and Lieberman. See also, The Obibi Effect.)