As he sat listening to his future Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon on the evening of April 29, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s body language relayed a certain sense of impatience. After 43 days of focused and often shrewd negotiations with the chairman of the Kulanu Party, the two men announced that their parties would be signing a coalition agreement. Netanyahu sat beside Kahlon, his hands resting on the table and his fingers drumming rhythmically without him even noticing it. Meanwhile, Kahlon listed all of his achievements so far. There were many, and they were respectable.

Kahlon is hardly a great orator. Netanyahu and Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid are both a thousand times better than him. Nevertheless, when anyone has such an impressive list of achievements, it is easy to see that he has the upper hand, even if his style of speech is laconic and boring.

Never has there been another finance minister in Israel with so much authority and so many means to succeed. Even Netanyahu, who was appointed to the post in 2003, did not have all the power that Kahlon now has.

Kahlon will be the first finance minister to head the Israel Land Authority, which will be transferred to him from the Housing Ministry, and the Planning Administration, which will be transferred from the Interior Ministry. He will also head the Housing Cabinet. The Kulanu Party will also receive two additional ministries: the Ministry of Housing, which will go to Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yoav Galant, and the Ministry of the Environment. His party will also chair the Knesset’s Welfare Committee and receive a 7 billion Israeli shekel (about $1.8 billion) budget to combat poverty. Furthermore, Kahlon asked for and received the right to veto any Basic Laws and infringe on the powers of the Supreme Court, and to veto the Nationality Law, which Netanyahu promoted during his last term.