Ministers Rotate to Make Security Cabinet Legal

A little-noticed consequence of Avigdor Liberman’s resignation was a slight overpopulation of the security cabinet.

Prior to Liberman’s departure, there were 21 ministers in the full cabinet, and 11 in the security cabinet. Liberman’s exit, which took Yisrael Beytenu cabinet minister Sofa Landver with him, left 10 in the security cabinet, versus only 19 in the full cabinet.

This is problematic, as Israeli law says that the security cabinet can have no more than half the number of the full cabinet. Thus, it was observed that the security cabinet was operated illegally.

To solve the problem, it was announced on Tuesday that Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Environmental Protection Minister Zeev Elkin, both members of the security cabinet, will henceforth rotate each month, so that there will be no more than 9 members at any given time, thus conforming to the legal limit.

Currently, the security cabinet is composed of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Interior Minister Rabbi Aryeh Deri, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Housing Minister Yoav Gallant, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Elkin and Steinitz.