Knesset votes to give Ministers Haim Katz, Yariv Levin 5 more ministerial portfolios

By Sam Sokol 24 November 2025, 9:58 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

L-R: Justice Minister Yariv Levin attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, November 19, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Haim Katz, then serving as national security minister, visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, during the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on March 7, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

The Knesset votes 48-42 in back-to-back votes to ratify the government’s nominations of Tourism Minister Haim Katz and Justice Minister Yariv Levin to lead a total of five more ministries.

The portfolios were left leaderless after ultra-Orthodox parties withdrew from the government this summer in a dispute over draft exemptions for Haredi men.

Levin will take over the Labor, Religious Services, and Jerusalem portfolios, while Katz will now head the Health and Welfare Ministries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is temporarily granted a number of powers usually assigned to the interior minister.

Netanyahu cannot take over the ministry himself because he is on trial for corruption and, by law, a minister cannot serve in such a role while under indictment. The ministry will continue to operate without a minister.

This summer, the government voted to appoint Levin to temporarily take over the Interior, Religious Affairs, and Labor Ministries in an acting capacity, following Shas’s exit from the government. The Welfare and Health Ministries were transferred to Katz, who was already serving as interim housing minister after United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak Goldknopf resigned from the post prior to his party leaving the government.

Those temporary appointments ended after three months, leaving five ministries without ministers. Katz was appointed as permanent housing minister in September.

Coalition members dismiss criticism of the arrangement, with Regional Cooperation Minister Dudi Amsalem joking that he did not know how many total ministries Levin and Katz were assigned to run.

“I haven’t counted yet,” he says in response to questions from opposition lawmakers.