Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir during a discussion and a vote in the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on March 6, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Israeli government ratifies reappointment of Ben-Gvir as minister, while the Supreme Court rejects petition by left-wing activists to bar the nationalist lawmaker’s return as national security minister.
By World Israel News Staff
The Israeli government voted unanimously on Tuesday to back the reappointment of three nationalist lawmakers as ministers, expanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
Netanyahu nominated Otzma Yehudit’s MK Itamar Ben-Gvir as National Security Minister, MK Amichai Eliyahu as Heritage Minister, and MK Isaac Wasserlauf as Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Minister, after the Likud and Otzma Yehudit agreed earlier that day on the latter’s return to the government.
The six-member Otzma Yehudit, a nationalist-religious faction with ties to the banned Kach party, which ran jointly with the Religious Zionist Party and the smaller Noam faction in the 2022 elections, bolted from the government in January after the coalition voted to back the ceasefire deal with Hamas.
After the IDF launched a large-scale air operation against terrorist forces in Gaza, however, Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir reached an agreement with the Likud securing his party’s return and the restoration of its three ministers.
The move expands Netanyahu’s coalition from a slender 62-58 majority in the 120-member Knesset to 68.
Ben-Gvir’s return as National Security Minister – a portfolio that includes authority over the Israel Police – comes despite the vocal opposition of State Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
Prior to Ben-Gvir’s departure from the position in January, Baharav-Miara had advised Netanyahu to consider firing him, accusing him of using his influence to interfere with police investigations into alleged crimes by right-wing activists.
“From a legal perspective, it is not possible to appoint Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as national security minister at this time,” the Attorney General’s office said in a statement Tuesday, without providing details.
Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by left-wing activists to preemptively bar Netanyahu from reappointing Ben-Gvir, though it did not rule out considering future petitions filed after the appointment.
The open discussion points to the extent to which the Islamic Republic feels pressure.
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