The new government will have some strange combination portfolios – apparently concocted in order to assure their holders of a place in the vaunted Security and Diplomacy Cabinet.

One such combination is the double portfolio that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will give MK Ze'ev Elkin (Likud). Elkin will be the minister for Aliyah and Strategic Threats, it was reported Thursday evening.

An arguably even stranger combination is the double portfolio of Transport and Intelligence, which was bestowed on Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud).

Not to be outdone, Likud's Yuval Steinitz, the outgoing Strategic Threats Minister, will be in charge of Energy and Infrastructures, but also government liaison for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) – a position not known to have existed previously, and one which will also make him a member of the Security and Diplomacy Cabinet.

The Strategic Threats portfolio itself was concocted years ago in order to satisfy Avigdor Liberman. Liberman wanted to join Ehud Olmert's government in 2006, and demanded the Public Security portfolio. This was not possible because there already was a Public Security Minister and because Liberman was under police investigation at the time. He therefore received the Strategic Threats Ministry, which included membership in the Security Cabinet.