This past Saturday night, senior Likud members went on the traditional Mimouna rounds. The traditional Moroccan Jewish celebrations marking the end of Passover were limited to indoor locations because of the stormy weather. At chance encounters, the tense party members tried to squeeze information from each other regarding the coalition talks in an effort to understand what kind of coalition Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to form — and what his plans are for each of them.

The Mimouna conversations revealed that senior members of the ruling party — including sitting ministers, to say nothing of Knesset members who see themselves as due for an upgrade — actually have no clue what their role will be, if they’ll have one at all, in Netanyahu’s fourth government. If they sought comfort, they found the proverbial "half a consolation" in the “troubles of many.”

It seems that since his surprising victory in the March 17 elections, Netanyahu is acting like he doesn’t owe senior members of his party any kind of accountability and was personally responsible for the triumph. As he tensely anticipates his fate like many of his colleagues, a Likud minister told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “I have no idea what Bibi [Netanyahu] wants, and I’m not the only one. He doesn’t really talk to us. The feeling is that we senior members of the Likud must wait and see what roles are left over.”

Likud members expect that Netanyahu will leave the Ministry of Defense in the hands of Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon, since this is considered a professional appointment and he doesn’t have a more qualified candidate. But Ya’alon knows as well that until it’s settled, it’s not settled. When it comes to Netanyahu, there could be surprises.