The new government of Israel headed by PM Benjamin Netanyahu was approved in the Knesset with 68 MKs voting in favour, and 48 opposed, and its 22 ministers were sworn in on March 18, 2013.
President Peres: “Before you stand complex challenges in the fields of security, economy and social issues. Most of all we must stand strong in face of the Iranian threat and make the utmost effort to move forward with negotiations for peace with the Palestinians.”
Government Ministers
Benjamin Netanyahu – Prime Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Public Affairs and the Diaspora
Yitzhak Aharonovitch – Minister of Public Security
Uri Ariel – Minister of Housing and Construction
Naftali Bennett – Minister of Trade, Industry and Labor, Minister of Religious Services, Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs
Meir Cohen – Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs
Gilad Erdan – Minister of Communications and Home Front Protection
Yael German – Minister of Health
Yisrael Katz – Minister of of Transportation, National Infrastructures and Road Safety
Uzi Landau – Minister of Tourism
Sofa Landver – Minister of Immigration Absorption
Yair Lapid – Minister of Finance
Limor Livnat – Minister of Culture and Sport
Tzipi Livni – Minister of Justice
Uri Orbach – Minister for Senior Citizens
Amir Peretz – Minister of Environmental Protection
Yaakov Perry – Minister of Science and Technology
Shai Piron – Minister of Education
Gideon Sa’ar – Minister of the Interior
Silvan Shalom – Minister of Water and Energy, Minister for Regional Development and the Development of the Negev and the Galilee
Yair Shamir – Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Yuval Steinitz – Minister of Strategic and Intelligence Affairs responsible for International Relations
Moshe Ya’alon – Minister of Defence
Senior Government Officials
Yuli Edelstein – Speaker of the Knesset
Asher Dan Grunis – President of the Supreme Court
Stanley Fischer – Governor of the Bank of Israel
Lt.-Gen. Benjamin Gantz – IDF Chief of General Staff
Yehuda Weinstein – Attorney General
Joseph H. Shapira – State Comptroller and Ombudsman
Rabbi Shlomo Amar – Sephardi Chief Rabbi
Rabbi Yona Metzger – Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi