However, this did not go down well with his own party and he was demoted to a minister without portfolio.

ECONOMIST: Taiwan

Two especially sensitive components in Mr Netanyahu's political calculations are Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister and leader of the Yisrael Beitenu party, and Benny Begin, a minister without portfolio.

ECONOMIST: A few glimmers of hope amid the bickering and point-scoring

However, Ken Clarke, a veteran pro-European, who attends the cabinet as a minister without portfolio, told the Financial Times that any referendum would be a "gamble" that could lead to the UK leaving the union.

BBC: David Cameron speech: UK and the EU

Goran Matic, a senior Yugoslav minister-without-portfolio in Yugoslavia's federal government, called the plan "the first step" to making peace.

CNN: Kosovo

On the other hand, the embassy chose not to publicize a lecture by Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Begin on Yom Yerushalayim.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Making Israel's case

This was the argument made recently, to mixed reactions, by Haim Ramon, the minister without portfolio and a close ally of Mr Barak's, at an acerbic session with liberal Jewish leaders in New York.

ECONOMIST: Israel��s great divide