The Cabinet of Israel (; ) is the cabinet which exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the government must be approved by a vote of confidence in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament). Under Israeli law, the prime minister may dismiss members of the government but must do so in writing, and new appointees must be approved by the Knesset. Most ministers lead ministries, though some are ministers without portfolio. Most ministers are members of the Knesset, though only the Prime Minister and the "designated acting prime minister" are required to be Knesset members. Some ministers are also called deputy and vice-prime ministers. Unlike the designated acting prime minister, these roles have no statutory meanings. The government operates in accordance with the Basic Law. It meets on Sundays weekly in Jerusalem. There may be additional meetings if circumstances require it. The current head of government, the prime minister, is Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli cabinet–officially described in the Basic Laws as the "Government"–is both the de jure and de facto executive authority in Israel. The Basic Laws explicitly vest executive power in the cabinet/Government, not the President.
Use of terms
The body discussed in this article is referred to in Israeli official documents as the Government of Israel. This is in accordance with the normal translation of its Hebrew name, (, Memshala). In Israel, the term cabinet () is generally used for the State-Security Cabinet ( HaKabinet haMedini-Bitachoni), a smaller forum of cabinet members that decides on defense and foreign policy issues and may consist of up to half of the (full) cabinet members. Another term in use is the Kitchen Cabinet (, HaMitbahon, lit. "The kitchenette"), a collection of senior officials, or unofficial advisers to the Security Cabinet of Israel.
Provisional and first governments of Israel
The first government was the provisional government of Israel (HaMemshala HaZmanit) which governed from shortly before independence until the formation of the first formal government in March 1949 following the first Knesset elections in January that year. It was formed as the People's Administration (Minhelet HaAm) on 12 April 1948, in preparation for independence just over a month later. All its thirteen members were taken from Moetzet HaAm, the temporary legislative body set up at the same time.
Current government The thirty-seventh government of Israel () is the current government of Israel, which was sworn in on 29 December 2022.
List of cabinets GovernmentDates in officePrime MinisterDurationProvisional14 May 1948 – 10 March 1949David Ben-Gurion1st10 March 1949 – 30 October 1950David Ben-Gurion2nd1 November 1950 – 8 October 1951David Ben-Gurion3rd8 October 1951 – 24 December 1952David Ben-Gurion4th24 December 1952 – 26 January 1954David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett5th26 January 1954 – 29 June 1955Moshe Sharett6th29 June 1955 – 3 November 1955Moshe Sharett7th3 November 1955 – 7 January 1958David Ben-Gurion8th7 January 1958 – 17 December 1959David Ben-Gurion9th17 December 1959 – 2 November 1961David Ben-Gurion10th2 November 1961 – 26 June 1963David Ben-Gurion11th26 June 1963 – 22 December 1964Levi Eshkol12th22 December 1964 – 12 January 1966Levi Eshkol13th12 January 1966 – 17 March 1969Levi Eshkol, Yigal Allon14th17 March 1969 – 15 December 1969Golda Meir15th15 December 1969 – 10 March 1974Golda Meir16th10 March 1974 – 3 June 1974Golda Meir17th3 June 1974 – 20 June 1977Yitzhak Rabin18th20 June 1977 – 5 August 1981Menachem Begin19th5 August 1981 – 28 August 1983Menachem Begin20th10 October 1983 – 13 September 1984Yitzhak Shamir21st13 September 1984 – 20 October 1986Shimon Peres22nd20 October 1986 – 22 December 1988Yitzhak Shamir23rd22 December 1988 – 11 June 1990Yitzhak Shamir24th11 June 1990 – 13 July 1992Yitzhak Shamir25th13 July 1992 – 22 November 1995Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres26th22 November 1995 – 18 June 1996Shimon Peres27th18 June 1996 – 6 July 1999Benjamin Netanyahu28th6 July 1999 – 7 March 2001Ehud Barak29th7 March 2001 – 28 February 2003Ariel Sharon30th28 February 2003 – 4 May 2006Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert31st4 May 2006 – 31 March 2009Ehud Olmert32nd31 March 2009 – 18 March 2013Benjamin Netanyahu33rd18 March 2013 – 14 May 2015Benjamin Netanyahu34th14 May 2015 – 17 May 2020Benjamin Netanyahu35th17 May 2020 – 13 June 2021Benjamin Netanyahu36th13 June 2021 – 29 December 2022Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid37th29 December 2022 – Benjamin Netanyahu
See also Basic Law: The Government Israeli system of government
References
External links Current and past cabinets – Knesset website Basic Law: The Government (2001) – Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs