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Religious Affairs Ministry left without any minister in charge
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel
The Religious Affairs Ministry is currently being run by its director general, with no minister in charge after the terms of the most recent ministers, newly independent MKs Matan Kahana and Naftali Bennett, expired, according to two advisers to Kahana.
Former religious affairs minister Kahana quit his post to return to Knesset as a lawmaker in May, amid coalition instability that ultimately proved fatal to the government he and Bennett sat in. His ministry automatically reverted to then-prime minister Bennett for a period of three months.
Although Bennett appointed Kahana as his deputy and Kahana functionally ran the ministry, the two were unable to cement Kahana’s reappointment due to dissension from both opposition and coalition ranks.
Gal Shem Tov will run the ministry until another political appointment is made.
