Fellow Likud parliamentarian Israel Katz was given the option of replacing Cohen during the second half of the incoming government’s term, but has yet to accept the offer.
By JNS
Likud Party lawmaker Eli Cohen has been appointed as Israel’s next foreign minister, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Fellow Knesset member Israel Katz was given the option of replacing Cohen during the second half of the incoming government’s term, but has yet to accept the offer, according to the reports.
Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been widely expected to name Katz and former Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer to the position, on a rotational basis. However, Netanyahu reportedly made a last-minute switch, informing Katz on Wednesday evening, prompting the latter to walk out irate.
Dermer has instead been named strategic affairs minister.
Cohen previously served as intelligence and economy minister, and was a member of the high-level security cabinet.
For his part, Katz was Jerusalem’s top diplomat between 2019 and 2021, and also held the agriculture, transportation, finance and intelligence portfolios.
Israel’s 37th government will be sworn in later on Thursday.It is the sixth government Benjamin Netanyahu will head.
List of ministers in Netanyahu’s government
- Prime Minister / Benjamin Netanyahu / Likud
- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Health, Minister of the Interior and Periphery / Aryeh Deri / Shas
- Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development / Avi Dichter / Likud
- Minister of Aliyah and Integration / Ofir Sofer / Religious Zionist
- Minister of Communications / Shlomo Karhi / Likud
- Minister of Housing and Construction / Yitzhak Goldknopf / United Torah Judaism (UTJ)
- Minister of Culture and Sport / Miki Zohar / Likud
- Minister of Defense / Yoav Galant / Likud
- Minister for Negev, Galilee, Minister for National Resilience / Yitzhak Wasserlauf / Otzma Yehudit
- Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Minister for Social Equality / Amichai Chikli / Likud
- Minister of the Economy / Nir Barkat / Likud
- Minister of Regional Cooperation, Minister of Education / Yoav Kisch / Likud
- Minister in the Education Ministry / Haim Biton / Shas
- Minister of Environmental Protection / Idit Silman / Likud
- Minister of Finance, Minister in the Defense Ministry / Bezalel Smotrich / Religious Zionist
- Minister of Foreign Affairs / Eli Cohen / Likud
- Minister of Heritage / Amihai Eliyahu / Otzma Yehudit
- Minister of Strategic Affairs / Ron Dermer
- Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition / Meir Porush / UTJ
- Minister of Justice / Yariv Levin / Likud
- Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services / Ya’akov Margi / Shas
- Minister in the Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry / Yoav Ben-Tzur / Shas
- Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water / Israel Katz / Likud
- Minister of National Missions / Orit Strook / Religious Zionist
- Minister of National Security / Itamar Ben-Gvir / Otzma Yehudit
- Minister of Religious Affairs / Michael Malchieli / Shas
- Minister of Science and Technology / Ofir Akunis / Likud
- Minister of Tourism / Haim Katz / Likud
- Minister of Transportation / Miri Regev / Likud