If she accepts the post, Farkash Hacohen will replace Avi Nissenkorn, who quit the post on Wednesday after he announced that he was leaving Blue and White for the new Israelis Party of Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.
Farkash-Hacohen has a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. She had an internship with Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner and worked for five years at Shimron, Molho, and Persky, one of the country’s top law firms. She has headed the litigation team of the Antitrust Authority and served as legal adviser and chairwoman of the Israel Electric Company.
Her first post in the current government was as strategic affairs minister. Gantz promoted her to tourism minister after Asaf Zamir quit the government in October.
It was initially reported that Gantz wanted to give the post to his confidant, Culture and Sport Minister Chili Tropper. But Tropper was also favored by the Likud, which was a strike against him.
Sources close to Tropper said early Thursday that “nothing has been finalized.”
Nissenkorn used the post to fight Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and what Nissenkorn called the prime minister’s “efforts to harm the legal establishment and the rule of law.” The Likud tried unsuccessfully to take power away from Nissenkorn as a condition for extending the current government.