Knesset approves Erdan as new interior minister

With Sa'ar's departure, Likud now down to 18 seats, one less than Yesh Atid; Netanyahu to hold on to Communications Ministry

By ToI Staff 6 November 2014, 1:15 am
New Israeli Interior Minister Gilad Erdan hugging MK Eitan Kabel at the Israeli parliament during a plenum session on November 5, 2014. (Photo credit: Issac Harari/Flash90)

The appointment of Gilad Erdan as Interior Minister was approved in the Knesset Wednesday, with 58 votes in favor and 13 opposed.

Erdan, a member of governing party Likud, will replace fellow party member Gideon Sa’ar, who announced his departure from political life in September. Sa’ar’s departure from the Knesset, replaced Wednesday by a Yisrael Beytenu MK, pushes the Likud down to 18 seats — one fewer than Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid.

Finance Minister Lapid confirmed on behalf of the government that Erdan will end his term as communications minister on November 18, and hand over responsibility for the ministry to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Erdan will, however, maintain responsibilities over the high profile reforms in Israel’s state broadcasting network.

Minister of Communications Gilad Erdan (L), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit seen at the weekly cabinet meeting at Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, May 04, 2014. (Photo credit: Emil Salman/POOL/FLASH90)

It has yet to be announced who will permanently replace Erdan in the ministry, with speculation that Netanyahu will keep control of the office until after Likud’s primary elections.

“It is not easy to part with the Communications Ministry,” Erdan told Haaretz, saying he was glad to have taken care of many important issues.

Sa’ar congratulated his successor in a Facebook post on Tuesday, saying he is convinced Erdan will do good for the country and its citizens.


Taking on his position in the Interior Ministry, Erdan will be dealing with several highly controversial issues, including the handling of African asylum seekers and the closure of Tel Aviv businesses on Sabbath.

Following Erdan’s approval in the Knesset, MKs took to the plenum to congratulate him and call on him to deal with a variety of issues.

Eli Yishai speaks during a ceremony marking 30 days since the passing of the late religious spiritual leader of Israel’s Sephardi Jewry, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in Jerusalem on November 5, 2013. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ultra-orthodox Shas opposition party member MK Eli Yishai, who previously served as interior minister, said the ministry has become a complicated office in which elected officials can longer implement their policies.

MK Tamar Zandberg of leftist opposition party Meretz asked Erdan to find a solution to the lack of housing in Israel and “revolutionize” construction.

Wednesday also saw the swearing in of a new MK, taking Sa’ar’s seat in the Knesset. Leon Litinetsky, of Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s right-wing party Yisrael Beytenu — which ran on a joint ticket with the Likud in the 2013 elections — will also sit on the State Control and Absorption and Diaspora committees.

The shift pushes the Likud down to 18 seats in the Knesset, making it only the second-largest party after Lapid’s 19-seat Yesh Atid.

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