Israel's national security minister reappointed as Gaza conflict escalates

Israel’s far-right politician and leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is set to return to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government amid an intensification of the war in the Gaza Strip.

Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir will return to his previous position as national security minister, while the party’s number two, Yitzhak Wasserlauf, will resume his role as minister for the development of the Negev and Galilee and national resilience. Additionally, Amichai Eliyahu will return as heritage minister.

“The government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to reappoint MK Itamar Ben Gvir to the position of Minister of National Security,” the PM’s office said in a statement.

In January, when he was national security minister, Ben-Gvir resigned from the government over disagreements about the ceasefire. His return strengthens a coalition that had been left with a thin parliamentary majority when he departed.

Ben-Gvir, 48, was known as a hardline extremist even before he helped Netanyahu form the most right-wing coalition in Israel's history. Burly, bespectacled and outspoken, Ben-Gvir heads the pro-settler, nationalist-religious Jewish Power party.

Copied