Minister of Immigration and Absorption Zeev Elkin won a personal political victory May 26 when he came out on top in his recent bout of arm wrestling with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The grand prize that he won was the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs.

Earlier, after serving for 10 days as minister for strategic affairs, the ministry was taken away from him and given to Gilad Erdan when he rejoined the government. Elkin responded by sending a series of implicit threats to Netanyahu. He boycotted the Likud faction meeting May 25 and voted against the government’s position in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation. What Elkin really wanted was compensation, in this case the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs. The problem was that Netanyahu had made a public promise to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat before the election that he would not appoint a new minister to this position. Now he found himself caught in a trap. Barkat tried to fight back, but he was contending against a Likud minister who is part of a very fragile coalition of just 61 members. In other words, he didn’t have a chance.

The unusually aggressive message that Barkat released to the media the morning of May 26 provides a very accurate summary of what happened. “The decision to re-establish the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs was made in direct opposition to my own opinion on the matter and contradicts both the prime minister’s commitment and the government’s decision, made on Jerusalem Day,” he wrote. “Jerusalem is not a consolation prize for anyone. I am saddened that narrow political considerations will result in the waste of public funds and superfluous bureaucracy, which will impede cooperation between the government and the municipality in their efforts to develop and promote Jerusalem.”

Furthermore, in discussions he held with Netanyahu before the final decision was made, Barkat made it clear to the prime minister that he does not plan to work with Elkin, and that he does not consider him to hold authority over any program or actions whatsoever that he intends to advance in the city. Barkat went on to tell Netanyahu that as far as he is concerned, when it comes to matters concerning Jerusalem, the prime minister is the only position that he recognizes.