Naftali Bennett’s spokesmen on April 25 announced that the HaBayit HaYehudi chairman had informed the prime minister that he was willing to forfeit the Foreign Ministry portfolio, and instead asked for the Education Ministry. In addition, they said that Bennett had met with former education ministers and CEOs, as well as with school principals.

The day after, Bennett’s associates continued to provide tidbits to the media that were intended to reinforce his miraculous love story with the Education Ministry. This is the same ministry he initially refused to accept at the onset of the coalition negotiations.

New HaBayit HaYehudi Knesset member Yinon Magal told Galei Zahal (Military Radio Station) in an interview that in recent weeks, Bennett told him that “he fell in love with this ministry, and he considers this ministry to have an important role. Sometimes there are things that you don’t always appreciate at first, but then you find out more about it and learn to love it.” It turns out that after the blow he suffered in the elections and the tiring coalition negotiations he endured vis-a-vis Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party, Bennett suddenly saw the light: that the most important thing of all is the education portfolio.

But the real story behind Bennett’s sudden revelation is apparently a lot less romantic. Negotiations between him and Netanyahu began during the election campaign, in the days when Bennett had 15 seats in the polls and he spoke openly about his vision of himself as a future worthy candidate for the premiership. In those days, Bennett demanded the defense portfolio from Netanyahu as part of the alliance they formed; people in Bennett’s circle claim that there had been a basic agreement to that effect.