Government Appoints Security Cabinet

Israel’s new government published on Wednesday the names of ministers who will sit in the Ministerial Committee on National Security Affairs, otherwise known as the Security Cabinet.

Following is the composition of the Security Cabinet: Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, Justice Minister Gideon Saar, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, Transportation and Road Safety Minister Merav Michaeli, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, Housing and Construction Minister Zeev Elkin and Religious Services Minister Matan Kahane.

Bennett and Lapid held their first working meeting on Wednesday. Bennett also held his first formal consultation with IDF Chief of Staff Avi Kochavi.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry made his first comment the Bennett-Lapid combination, acknowledging that, “The new government is the choice of the Israelis.”

“Egypt will strive to work with it to advance the peace process with the Palestinians, and to bring about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on a two-state solution.”

He called on Israel to make “courageous decisions”—a diplomatic euphemism for making major concessions to the Palestinians.