<p class="content-excerpt">With Itamar Ben-Gvir to serve as the Minister for National Security</p> <div class="components"> <p>Likud, the part of Israel's prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, reached on Friday an initial coalition agreement with the far-right Jewish Power party that will see leader Itamar Ben-Gvir appointed the Minister for National Security.</p> <p>It is understood the post represents a version of the Public Security portfolio with an expanded purview that also includes the Real Estate Enforcement division and the West Bank Border Police division. Additionally, Ben-Gvir's party will be tasked with Negev and Galilee ministry—which will now be decoupled from the Social Periphery Ministry—and the Heritage Ministry.&nbsp;</p> <p>Amichai Eliyahu will preside over the latter, while the Negev and Galilee Ministry will be headed Yitzhak Wasserlauf, the Jewish Power deputy leader. "We took a big step tonight toward a full coalition agreement, toward forming a fully, fully right-wing government," Ben-Gvir—a controversial far-right activist staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood—said in the statement.</p> <p><br></p> </div>