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With Otzma Yehudit out of government, Netanyahu set to appoint replacement ministers

Three ministerial positions, two committee chairmanships open up after Ben Gvir pulls far-right party out of coalition; Dichter being considered for new national security minister

Sam Sokol

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon and cabinet ministers pose for a picture during a special government meeting on Jerusalem Day at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, June 5, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon and cabinet ministers pose for a picture during a special government meeting on Jerusalem Day at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, June 5, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The exit of Itamar Ben Gvir’s ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party from the government on Sunday morning over the ceasefire deal in Gaza is set to leave multiple government posts empty, sparking what one coalition insider has described as “a big internal fight” within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party over the allocation of the suddenly available positions.

The resignations of the party’s three cabinet members — National Security Minister Ben Gvir, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, and Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf — are slated to go into effect on Tuesday morning, giving Netanyahu a short period to choose their successors.

Otzma Yehudit departure reduces the Netanyahu coalition’s Knesset majority from 68 of the 120 MKs to 62 or 63, depending on complex arrangements that will now have to be resolved between Ben-Gvir’s party and Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism, which ran on a joint list in the 2022 elections before separating.

Netanyahu is widely expected to give the National Security Ministry to someone within his Likud party, to leave the door open for Ben Gvir to later return to the government. His options are limited, however, since he is likely to face legal hurdles appointing anyone to the role who is currently tied to a police investigation — which includes ministers Eli Cohen, Miri Regev and May Golan.

Speaking with The Times of Israel on Sunday, one coalition insider said that while “nothing is ever final until announced,” certain politicians are believed to be the most likely candidates.

In line with Hebrew-language media reports, the source said that Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter was the top contender to replace Ben Gvir as minister in charge of police.

Dichter has extensive experience with national security issues. The former head of the Shin Bet security service previously served in the role under its previous moniker of public security minister. He is also, like Netanyahu, a veteran of the IDF’s elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal.

Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben Gvir with MK Amichai Eliyahu in the Knesset plenum, December 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

However, according to the Israel Hayom daily, Dichter may not be interested in the position under the current circumstances. The paper said it could also go to Energy Minister Eli Cohen, despite police allegations that he improperly issued diplomatic passports to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s son Yair as well as several prominent members of his ruling Likud party.

According to the coalition source, Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem “is angling” for Wasserlauf’s job leading the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Ministry, while Eliyahu’s office may be folded into another ministry.

Both Wasserlauf and Eliyahu’s ministries have been deemed superfluous by the Finance Ministry, which recommended shutting them down in late 2023.

Otzma Yehudit’s exit also opens up the chairmanships of MK Zvika Fogel’s National Security Committee and Limor Son Har-Melech’s Special Committee for Oversight of the Israeli Citizens’ Fund in the Knesset.

The source added that lawmakers are set to vote on Monday to appoint Likud MK Nissim Vaturi to take over Har-Melech’s committee, which oversees the sovereign wealth fund set up by Israel for proceeds from offshore gas extraction.

Asked for comment, Har-Melech said that the switch had been “planned in advance” because the two MKs are in a rotation and the matter was “not related to our withdrawal from the coalition.”

Questioned as to whether Otzma Yehudit would consider rejoining the coalition at some point, Har-Melech replied that it would “when the right will truly be the right.”

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter attends an Economic Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 11, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“There are other committee chair rotations in the works. I expect a full Likud reshuffle. Deputy speakers, junior committee chairs, maybe a promotion or two to minister,” the source continued — adding it may be possible to reach “side deals” with MK Idan Roll, who recently broke off from Yesh Atid, and MK Almog Cohen of Otzma Yehudit, who is seen as a rebel in his party, although it is unclear “if they will agree to be under coalition discipline.”

“Lots of different options are being discussed and it changes every few hours,” the source stated.

After MK Cohen bucked Otzma Yehudit party discipline to vote with the coalition several times in recent weeks, he was removed from the party’s internal WhatsApp groups and Ben Gvir attempted to have him removed from the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee.

Otzma Yehudit has been voting against the coalition since mid-December, with Ben Gvir threatening not to submit to coalition discipline until cuts to his ministry were rescinded and action taken to fire Attorney General Gali-Baharav Miara. Despite this, Netanyahu declined to terminate Ben Gvir, although his party’s legislation was removed from the Knesset agenda as a punishment.

Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.

Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, right, head of the Special Committee for Oversight of the Israeli Citizens’ Fund, leads a committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, June 6, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Beyond leading to cabinet and committee changes, Ben Gvir’s decision to bolt the coalition could also lead to the exit of Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer from the Knesset, opening up an empty spot on the Judicial Selection Committee.

Kroizer is one of the Knesset representatives on the committee that selects judges, whose composition was a central part of the government’s judicial overhaul agenda, which Levin is currently seeking to revive.

Kroizer became an MK in early 2023 under the so-called Norwegian Law, when the party’s Amichai Eliyahu became heritage minister. The law allows ministers and deputy ministers from large factions to resign from the Knesset, with their seats filled by members of their parties.

Eliyahu’s resignation from the cabinet will not push Kroizer out of the Knesset. Instead, it will force the resignation of Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot, who held a lower spot on the two parties’ joint electoral list in the 2022 legislative election. This, in turn, could potentially prompt Religious Zionism chairman and Finance Minister Smotrich to retake his own Knesset seat, in turn pushing out Kroizer.

MK Yitzhak Kroizer attends a Knesset committee, July 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Since members of the committee representing the Knesset are elected in a secret ballot by a parliamentary majority, it would be difficult to ensure another supporter of the judicial overhaul could replace Kroizer, a coalition source told The Times of Israel earlier this month.

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