Haaretz reports that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich plans to temporarily resign from his cabinet post on Saturday night for 48 hours.
The resignation is required for Smotrich to return to the Knesset. Smotrich had left the Knesset as part of the Norwegian Law, which allows ministers to resign for the next party member on their list to serve in the Knesset instead of them while they serve in the cabinet.
Smotrich wants to return to the Knesset to boot a member of the fellow far-right Otzma Yehudit party, MK Yitzhak Kroizer.
Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party and Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party ran on a joint list in the previous election.
Last week, Otzma Yehudit resigned from the government in protest of the hostage deal.
One of its ministers, Amichai Eliyahu, decided to return to the Knesset, leading Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot to lose his seat.
To restore the balance of power with Otzma Yehudit and to provide the coalition with an extra vote in the Knesset, Smotrich has decided to temporarily resign and return to parliament.
He will resume his cabinet posts after the required 48-hour period wait period concludes.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 24, 2025
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
