Kulanu minister Eli Cohen approved to join security cabinet

Immigration Minister Yoav Gallant, who left Kulanu party to join Likud, re-authorized to sit on high-level panel

Ministers on Sunday approved the security cabinet membership of Economy Minister Eli Cohen of the Kulanu party, and Immigration Minister Yoav Gallant, who following a political shift was returning to the top-level forum under the banner of different party.

Cohen will fill the spot in the cabinet reserved for the Kulanu party that was vacated when Gallant left the party and joined the ruling Likud instead.

In switching parties, Gallant was required to resign his position as housing and construction minister, which he did on December 31, along with relinquishing his seat in the Knesset as a member of the Kulanu faction. Last week, he was appointed immigration absorption minister — though no longer a member of parliament — and joined Likud.

Tapping Gallant as minister also allowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep him in the security cabinet, the high-level ten-member committee of ministers that makes decisions on war and peace. Gallant, who has 35 years of military experience, is the only ex-general on the committee.

Housing Minister Yoav Gallant speaks at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference, held at Waldorf Astoria hotel in Jerusalem. November 21, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Since the Knesset dissolved and early elections were set last month for April 9, 2019, two other security cabinet ministers have also moved parties. Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked both split off from their national-religious Jewish Home party, where they held the top two positions, and formed their own New Right party instead. They were able to maintain their ministries and cabinet posts due to the terms of the Jewish Home party membership regulation.

At the Immigration Ministry, Gallant replaced Yariv Levin, who is also the tourism minister. Levin held the post in an acting capacity since Netanyahu left the post last month amid criticism that a prime minister should not simultaneously hold the defense, foreign, health and immigration portfolios.

Gallant will be fighting for a position in the party primaries scheduled for February 5 that will determine the Likud slate for the next elections.