From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Knesset to vote on Blue and White bill that would shrink security cabinet, bar draft evaders
Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
The Knesset will vote today on an opposition bill to regulate the security cabinet, including sharply reducing its size and barring those who did not complete military or national service from serving in it.
The bill, proposed by Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, is “aimed at regulating the cabinet’s conduct,” according to a statement from the party.
According to the proposal, the number of cabinet members would be limited to eight, members would receive “professional training and guidance,” and anyone who did not complete either military or national service would be ineligible to serve in the cabinet, amid the ongoing debate over regulating the draft for yeshiva students.
The bill would render several members of the current cabinet ineligible, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who was not drafted into the military due to extremist activities as a youth, including joining the outlawed Meir Kahane’s banned Kach party, which the state considers to be a terrorist organization.
Ben Gvir himself was later convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attended yeshiva and only served for 14 months as an enlisted man after being conscripted at the age of 28.
The Ministerial Committee for National Security Affairs, more commonly known as the security cabinet, currently has 11 official members but in practice, several other ministers regularly attend, in addition to numerous other regular guests.
Under the law, only six members are legally required to serve in the cabinet: the prime minister and the defense, justice, foreign affairs, finance, and national security ministers.
However, Energy Minister Eli Cohen, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and Zeev Elkin, a minister in the Finance Ministry, are also members.
In addition, Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock and Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem regularly attend, as did Shas party leader Aryeh Deri prior to his party leaving the government last summer over the failure to pass a draft exemption law for yeshiva students.
Gantz proposes that the security cabinet be “modeled” after the war cabinet he formed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the days following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, when his National Unity party joined Netanyahu’s ruling Likud to form an emergency government.
The war cabinet included only six members: Netanyahu and Gantz, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, then-strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, and Deri.
The Times of Israel Community.