Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, November 21, 2022

Likud’s Gallant picked to chair powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee

By Carrie Keller-Lynn 21 November 2022, 2:17 pm 0 Edit

Carrie Keller-Lynn is a political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel

Minister of Immigration and Absorption Yoav Galant attends a memorial ceremony for late Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon on February 21, 2020, at the family's Sycamore ranch, near the Israeli city of Sderot. (Flash90)

Likud MK Yoav Gallant is approved to head the Knesset’s temporary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, after the Arrangements Committee recommended his appointment on Sunday.

A former head of the Israel Defense Force’s Southern Command and a failed nominee for the position of IDF chief of staff, Gallant is also Likud’s candidate for defense minister, a position that is currently hotly contested by Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich.

Gallant replaces Yesh Atid MK Ram Ben Barak, a former top Mossad official who led the committee since 2021.

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is considered one of the Knesset’s most important committee, responsible for overseeing the military, defense budgets and other critical areas of national security.

Like the temporary Finance Committee, the temporary Foreign and Defense Committee will become permanent once the Arrangements Committee sets all parliamentary panels.