Reshuffling in gov’t and Knesset expected after Otzma Yehudit departure

According to a source, the national security ministry and Negev and Galilee ministry will likely be given to existing ministers from the Likud.

By ELIAV BREUER JANUARY 19, 2025 13:14 Updated: JANUARY 19, 2025 13:18

National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends the Knesset's plenum session. December 16, 2024. (photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Otzma Yehudit’s departure from the government and coalition, which will come into effect on Tuesday morning, will lead to a reshuffling in the government and Knesset.

In the government, Otzma Yehudit had three ministries – the National Security Ministry, the Negev and Galilee Ministry, and the Heritage Ministry.

The national security ministry and Negev and Galilee ministry will likely be given to existing ministers from the Likud, according to a source.

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, who served in the past as internal security minister, is a leading candidate to reenter the position. The smaller heritage ministry will likely be incorporated into an existing ministry, the source said.

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu resigned from the Knesset, but his resignation from the government will bring him back to the Knesset. The “Norwegian Law” allows MKs who are appointed to ministers to leave the Knesset and enable the next person on their party list to enter the Knesset.

The Knesset plenum on July 24, 2024. (credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Return to the Knesset

However, as in Eliyahu’s case, the Norwegian Law states that if a minister resigns, he returns to the Knesset. Otzma Yehudit and the Religious Zionist Party ran in a joint list in the election, and Eliyahu’s return to the Knesset will push out of the Knesset RZP MK Tzvi Sukkot.

The other Otzma Yehudit ministers, MKs Itamar Ben-Gvir and Yizhak Wasserlauf, did not resign their positions as members of Knesset, and therefore their resignation from the government does not push out any existing MKs.

Eliyahu replacing Sukkot in the Knesset gives Otzma Yehudit an extra MK at the expense of RZP. In order to counter this, RZP chairman, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also quitted the Knesset, will likely issue a technical resignation in order to return to the Knesset and push out of the Otzma Yehudit MK Yizhak Kroyzer. Smotrich will then be reappointed as finance minister and will serve simultaneously as a minister and MK.

The MKs from Otzma Yehudit also left their positions in the Knesset. These include the position of Knesset National Security Ministry Committee chairman; chairmanship of the Committee for Oversight of the Israeli Citizens' Fund; membership in the Judicial Selection Committee; and more.

Prior to the departure of Otzma Yehudit, the coalition was already considering reshuffling some of the parliamentary positions, according to the source. The departure means that a larger number of positions will switch hands.