Minister in the Prime Minister's Office

Israel's Basic Law: The Government supplies the constitutional framework for these appointments. It provides that the government consists of the prime minister and other ministers and that a minister may head a ministry, serve without portfolio, or serve as an additional minister in a ministry.[3] Each minister is responsible to the prime minister for the tasks assigned to that minister, while the government as a whole is collectively responsible to the Knesset; a minister need not be a Knesset member.[3]

When a government is formed, it presents its composition and the distribution of functions among ministers to the Knesset and seeks a confidence vote; ministers assume office after that confidence is expressed.[3] When the government subsequently adds a minister, it must notify the Knesset of that minister's duties or areas of responsibility and obtain approval of the notification.[3] The prime minister may also set the jurisdictional responsibilities of ministries and establish, dissolve, or reorganize them, providing substantial structural flexibility.[1]

The Basic Law separately provides for the distinct post of Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. The prime minister may appoint up to two such deputy ministers, and each must be a Knesset member.[3] This statutory designation is different from the various ministerial titles used for cabinet members serving in or through the Office. Most ministers head a ministry, while ministers without portfolio may be assigned special projects; ministers remain responsible to the prime minister and accountable to the Knesset.[10]

The practice of appointing ministers without portfolio dates to Israel's early years. Israel's first minister without portfolio was reportedly economist and bank executive Peretz Naftali, who joined David Ben-Gurion's government in 1951, three years after the state was established. The arrangement allowed a minister to be added to the cabinet without creating an accompanying ministry.[6]

Cabinet composition has consistently reflected coalition bargaining. Ministers' posts are divided among coalition partners through negotiation, usually in proportion to their parliamentary strength, although the formula may be set aside during national emergencies or political stalemates.[5] Israel's unity cabinet through November 1988 included nineteen ministers with portfolios and six ministers without portfolio. The cabinet approved in December 1988 expanded to twenty-eight ministers to accommodate coalition partners' political demands.[5]

A 2013 electoral-reform proposal called for completely eliminating ministerial positions without portfolios. The Library of Congress report describing the proposal said its changes were intended to take effect when the Twentieth Knesset convened, but presented them as planned legislation rather than an existing rule.[11]

The Prime Minister's Office functions as a central coordinating body that assists the prime minister and coordinates inter-ministerial activity according to government decisions and priorities set by the prime minister.[4] The State Comptroller reported that the Office had approximately 1,000 employees in 2019 and a budget, including changes, of NIS 1.7 billion in 2018.[4]

The Office contains administrative and professional units that assist the prime minister, coordinate government work, and support national projects rather than supplying one standard ministerial portfolio.[1] The prime minister may set the jurisdictions of ministries and establish, dissolve, or reorganize them, while the available sources identify no fixed portfolio for every minister described as serving in the Prime Minister's Office.[1] The designation has consequently been applied to substantially different policy responsibilities in successive governments.

The range of responsibilities is illustrated by appointments across different governments. In the Twenty-Eighth Government formed by Ehud Barak after the 1999 elections, Haim Ramon served as Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister responsible for Jerusalem Affairs, while Michael Melchior served as a minister without portfolio responsible for Diaspora Jewry.[2] Melchior served as Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister from August 1999 until March 2001, with responsibility for diaspora and social affairs, before becoming Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.[12]

Dan Meridor served in the Israeli government from 2001 to 2003 with responsibility for strategic affairs.[8] An INSS study describes the same period as service in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility, among other things, for intelligence. It reports duties including reviewing intelligence material supplied to the prime minister, working with Military Intelligence, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad, meeting senior officials, visiting units, and regularly formulating conclusions and recommendations for the prime minister and military secretary.[9] Uzi Landau served as Minister of Public Security from March 2001 to February 2003 and then as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office until October 2004; the source does not specify his responsibilities in the latter role.[13]

Gideon Ezra was appointed a minister in the Prime Minister's Office in 2003 and assigned responsibility for coordination between the government and the Knesset. He later served as acting Tourism Minister in summer 2004 and subsequently became Public Safety Minister.[14] Tzachi Hanegbi served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office from 2004 to 2006, although the cited biography does not identify the responsibilities attached to that post.[15] In 2016, Hanegbi was tasked with recommending that the government remove most confidentiality restrictions on the Cohen-Kedmi Committee's protocols concerning the Yemenite children affair and publish them online.[16]

The Ministry of Intelligence Affairs was established in May 2009 and headed by Meridor to assist the prime minister, while the Mossad and General Security Service remained directly under the prime minister.[17] In March 2013, Yuval Steinitz was appointed minister of strategy, intelligence, and international relations, continuing the use of ministerial appointments for national-security coordination.[17]

In July 2021, the government approved Eli Avidar's appointment as a minister in the Prime Minister's Office, although his specific powers had not yet been finalized.[18] The appointment formed part of a coalition arrangement reached amid tensions within Yisrael Beiteinu, and Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev abstained from the cabinet vote over the addition of another minister.[18]

A Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs case study reports that, after Israel's 2003 elections, a coalition including Shinui agreed to dismantle the Ministry of Religious Affairs. National Religious Party Knesset member Yitzhak Levi was appointed deputy minister in charge of religious affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, with responsibility for overseeing the ministry's dismantling and the redistribution of its departments.[7] The coalition agreement between the National Religious Party and Likud provided that Levi would serve until the ministry was dismantled or for twelve months, whichever came first; the source also notes a disagreement over whether he had been promised a longer term.[7]

The same case study reports that rabbinical courts previously administered by the Ministry of Religious Affairs were transferred to the Justice Ministry. It also records the later appointment of Shas Knesset member Yitzhak Cohen as religious affairs minister in the Prime Minister's Office, illustrating another arrangement in which religious-affairs responsibility was housed within the Office rather than a freestanding ministry.[7]

A more expansive reorganization occurred with the formation of Israel's Thirty-Seventh Government in December 2022. Orit Strock's Ministry for National Missions was created within the Prime Minister's Office, with responsibilities including the Jewish Identity Directorate, national service, the Settlement Division, pre-military preparatory academies, and the Torah Culture Division. The Jewish Identity Directorate was to be transferred from the Ministry of Religious Services and the Torah Culture Division from the Ministry of Education, where it had a budget of NIS 100 million.[19]

The same government included Yitzhak Goldknopf as construction and housing minister, a minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and minister for Jerusalem affairs. This arrangement followed the division of the Jerusalem and Heritage portfolio established in 2015: Goldknopf received the Jerusalem component, while Amichai Eliyahu received the Heritage component.[19]

The formation of the Thirty-Seventh Government in December 2022 produced several appointments connected with the Prime Minister's Office. Galit Distel-Atbaryan was initially described as a minister without portfolio in the Office, with her powers still to be defined, and was subsequently appointed Minister of Public Diplomacy.[19][20] May Golan was then added as a minister without portfolio in the Prime Minister's Office.[20] A January 2023 proposal would allocate NIS 19.2 million to implement the two appointments: NIS 10.8 million from the Prime Minister's Office operating budget and NIS 8.4 million from the Tax Authority's salary budget.[20]

Golan's appointment also illustrated the statutory ceiling on deputy-minister posts. The two permitted Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office positions were reportedly already filled, preventing an earlier plan to appoint her as a deputy minister.[21] Deputy Minister Avi Maoz was the subject of a separate proposal to transfer the Education Ministry's area of responsibility for its unit on external programs and partnership promotion to his authority. The unit coordinated teams reviewing responses to ministerial tenders, and Education Minister Yoav Kisch said he supported strengthening Jewish identity but did not intend to change existing programs except those he considered harmful to IDF soldiers or bereaved families.[20]

Another January 2023 proposal would have transferred responsibility for the Authority for the Economic and Social Development of the Haredi Sector from the Ministry for Social Equality to the Prime Minister's Office under Deputy Minister Uri Maklev.[20]

Following the October 7, 2023 attacks, Benny Gantz joined Israel's government and war cabinet as a minister without portfolio. Gadi Eisenkot also joined the government as a minister without portfolio and served as an observer in the war cabinet; both left the government in June 2024.[22]

Intelligence coordination and oversight are recurring examples of responsibilities assigned to ministers connected with the Prime Minister's Office. The Mossad and the General Security Service report directly to the prime minister, making the Office an institutional setting for attempts to create an intermediary or supervisory role between those agencies and the head of government.[17]

The INSS account of Dan Meridor's 2001–2003 role describes regular review of intelligence material supplied to the prime minister and structured engagement with Military Intelligence, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad, including visits to units and the formulation of conclusions and recommendations for the prime minister and military secretary.[9] The Ministry of Intelligence Affairs, established in May 2009 and headed by Meridor, later institutionalized a related function in a named ministry.[17]

An INSS analyst argues that the minister of intelligence position lacked authority and was effectively meaningless. The analyst proposed legislation that would establish the minister as a minister in the Prime Minister's Office with direct responsibility for the Shin Bet and Mossad and governmental supervisory authority over the intelligence agencies; the proposal was repeatedly opposed by the governing coalition and was not enacted.[23] The analyst reported that the Mossad and Shin Bet had a combined budget of nearly NIS 10 billion, citing a 2017 source.[23]

The central classification issue is that the sources do not establish Minister in the Prime Minister's Office as one consistently defined statutory portfolio. The Basic Law expressly recognizes ministers without portfolio, additional ministers within ministries, and Deputy Ministers in the Prime Minister's Office, but it does not define a single standard set of responsibilities for every cabinet member described as a minister in the Office.[1][3] Historical sources instead document appointment-specific titles and duties.

The descriptions of Dan Meridor's 2001–2003 responsibilities illustrate this inconsistency. ICT identifies strategic affairs, an INSS study emphasizes intelligence duties, and a separate INSS biography describes him as a minister without portfolio responsible for national defense and diplomatic strategy without dating that appointment.[8][9] These formulations may describe overlapping duties, but the cited sources do not reconcile them.[24]

The actual powers attached to some appointments were also unsettled when the appointments were announced. Eli Avidar's responsibilities in 2021 and Galit Distel-Atbaryan's responsibilities in December 2022 had not yet been finalized.[18][19] The argument that the intelligence-minister variant lacked meaningful authority is an analyst's evaluation rather than a settled statutory characterization.[23]