Prime Minister's Office (Israel)

The Prime Minister’s Office operates within a parliamentary system in which the prime minister is head of government and the president is a largely ceremonial head of state.[7] After elections, the president assigns the task of forming a government to a Knesset member considered likely to succeed; the government and its ministers enter office following a successful Knesset confidence vote.[7] The prime minister heads the executive branch and holds the majority of executive governing responsibilities, while the government handles most national and public affairs and represents Israel abroad.[4]

The Office’s work spans policy, security, society, and the economy.[3] Its director-general consolidates administrative work on economic, social, and civilian issues on the prime minister’s behalf, while the Government Secretariat prepares government business and maintains institutional relationships with the Knesset and president.[3][4] National-security staff work supports deliberations on foreign and security affairs, including policy alternatives, assessments, budgets, and implementation of decisions.[2] The Mossad and Israel Security Agency are also supervised by the Prime Ministry.[7]

A 2009 institutional account described the Office as a group of administrative and professional units supporting the prime minister’s official and day-to-day work, including the Government Secretariat and Prime Minister’s Bureau.[8] Its official website provides access to government decisions, meeting agendas, ministerial-committee information, notices from the government secretary, citizen services, and a mechanism for tracking government decisions.[1] On November 2, 2026, the page named Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister and Yossi Fox as government secretary.[1]

Government Resolution 4889 established the National Security Council in March 1999 as a staff forum for the prime minister and government on national security; retired general David Ivri led its establishment.[2] The 2001 Government Law subsequently provided for a team, established by the prime minister, to supply regular professional national-security advice.[2] Government Resolution 2438 of October 14, 2007, further specified the council’s designation, responsibilities, and operating methods.[2]

The National Security Staff Law of 2008 formalized the body’s status and changed its name from the National Security Council to the National Security Staff, or NSS.[2] It located the NSS within the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, made its head subordinate to the prime minister and designated the head as national security adviser, and assigned the prime minister responsibility for operating and directing it.[2] The statutory formulation was explicit: “The National Security Staff shall serve as the staff body for the prime minister and the government regarding the State of Israel’s foreign and security affairs.”[2]

Socioeconomic coordination developed along a parallel institutional path.[9] In the early 2000s, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon established a Coordinating and Follow-Up Unit under the director-general to address issues of particular interest to the prime minister.[9] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert established the National Economic Council and Policy Planning Department in 2006, although these units generally concentrated on discrete issues rather than an overarching socioeconomic strategy.[9] The planning department’s development included the transfer of a unit from the National Security Council into the Office in 2006, with Ehud Prawer appointed head of policy planning.[10]

Responsibilities also changed through transfers from other ministries.[5] On January 1, 2004, following Government Resolution 900 of October 8, 2003, the Ministry of Religious Affairs was dismantled and its Religious Councils wing transferred to the Office.[5] The transferred areas included burials, the Chief Rabbinate as a division authority, and the Western Wall Heritage Fund; the Office coordinated implementation of the dismantling resolutions and related legislative work.[5] Later, the Socioeconomic Division was established in accordance with recommendations of the April 2012 Kuchik Report on the Office’s organizational structure.[3]

A further expansion occurred on September 25, 2025, when the government approved a National Artificial Intelligence Directorate within the Office as a support unit reporting directly to the prime minister.[11] Its expected responsibilities included preparing a national AI plan, assisting ministries with regulatory questions, and developing infrastructure such as energy complexes and supercomputing centers.[11] This changed the arrangement established in 2021, under which AI policy leadership belonged to the minister responsible for innovation, science, and technology.[11]

The director-general heads the Office’s administrative work, oversees its economic, social, and civilian policies, and leads or participates centrally in major national projects on the government’s and prime minister’s agenda.[3] The position is filled by prime-ministerial appointment with full cabinet approval, and the director-general is assisted by personal and professional advisers.[9] Responsibilities include chairing ad hoc committees and a regular forum of ministry directors-general, with some professional agencies handling cross-ministry issues reporting to the position.[9]

The director-general’s influence rests partly on direct access to the prime minister and the prime minister’s backing.[9] Working with the government secretary, the director-general can influence cabinet-meeting agendas and reviews government programs, state budgets, and economic plans before their submission to the prime minister and cabinet.[9] Budget coordination does not amount to formal authority over the budget.[9] A 2009 institutional account additionally attributed to the director-general leadership of national projects and work on economic reforms and privatization initiatives.[8]

The Government Secretariat is headed by a cabinet secretary appointed by the government on the prime minister’s recommendation.[4] Its responsibilities include preparing agendas for government and ministerial-committee meetings, government spokesperson duties, relations with the Knesset and president, and follow-up on implementation of government resolutions.[4] It also maintains cabinet and committee records, coordinates ministry work, informs the public of decisions and policies, and issues formal cabinet press releases.[8] Standing cabinet committees operate alongside this regular machinery of interministerial coordination.[8]

Historically, the Prime Minister’s Bureau handled confidential matters concerning the chief executive, supported by advisers on political and legal affairs, national security, terrorism and counterterrorism, media, petitions, Arab affairs, and welfare.[12] A historical organizational account also placed a wide range of bodies within the Office, including the State Archives and Library, Government Names Committee, Government Press Office, National Council for Research and Development, Technological and Scientific Information Center, Atomic Energy Commission, Institute for Biological Research, National Parks Authority, and Central Bureau of Statistics.[12] These affiliations describe that historical organizational setting rather than a current institutional roster.[12]

The Socioeconomic Division, headed by the director-general, comprises the Department for Governance and Social Affairs, the Division for Home Affairs, Planning and Development, and the Department of the Economy and Infrastructures.[3] Its remit includes consolidating national policy planning and administrative work, leading necessary civil-service reforms, and advancing nationally significant projects for defined periods.[3]

The Department for Governance and Social Affairs shapes planning policy for ministries, advances structural government reforms, and strengthens connections between citizens and government, including dialogue with business and third-sector organizations.[3] Its social-policy fields encompass education, immigration and absorption, health, welfare, culture, and sports, alongside work relating to the Ministry for Social Equality and the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women.[3] The earlier Policy Planning Department coordinated annual ministry work plans and assessment documents, supported ministry planning units, and promoted social policies and government projects; it could recommend revisions to plans but could not overrule a minister.[9]

The Division for Home Affairs, Planning and Development covers local authorities, planning policy, land development and allocation, migration, agriculture and rural development, the environment, personal security, emergency preparedness, and religious services.[3] It formulates and manages cross-government development programs, including regional, settlement, and sectoral plans, and also handles work on Diaspora affairs and hasbara.[3] The Department of the Economy and Infrastructures advises the director-general on economic matters and leads the division’s economic work.[3]

The economic department’s listed fields include macroeconomic policy, the state budget, taxation and state income, competitiveness, capital markets, and salary matters under the Accountant General.[3] It also represents the Office and follows work concerning transportation, infrastructure, energy, water, real estate, tourism, employment, industry and trade, communications, and defense-system budgets.[3] These responsibilities place both broad economic policy and individual infrastructure sectors within the Office’s coordinating work.[3]

Established in 2006, the National Economic Council was intended to help develop economic policy and promote systematic, professional, long-term thinking.[9] Its head serves as the prime minister’s economic adviser, is appointed by the prime minister with government approval, and works in coordination with the director-general.[9] Its duties include identifying trends and policy initiatives, integrating expertise, advising on proposed resolutions and socioeconomic discussions, and assessing the Finance Ministry’s proposed budget, including targets, frameworks, priorities, and taxation.[3] In the 2016 institutional account, its activity had not been grounded in legislation.[9]

The Division for Coordination, Follow-Up and Control promoted and monitored high-priority national programs requiring cooperation across ministries and developed a system for tracking implementation of government decisions.[9] In 2016, this division, the National Economic Council, and the Policy Planning Department each generally had between five and 12 staff members, including research assistants, with flexible staffing levels.[9] Urgent political work could nevertheless make it difficult for the director-general and immediate staff to maintain a systematic long-term socioeconomic perspective.[9]

The NSS prepares government and ministerial deliberations on foreign and security affairs, presents policy alternatives and their assessed implications, coordinates interministerial work, and monitors implementation of decisions for the prime minister.[2] Its statutory responsibilities also include annual and multiyear diplomatic-security assessments, relevant budget staff work, assessment of Israel’s security concept, and operation of the National Crisis Management Center within the Office.[2] Its head may convene hearings and invite representatives of security organizations, the IDF, police, and ministries, with attendance mandatory unless the head considers participation impossible.[2]

The national-security staff structure has included foreign-policy, security-policy, and strategic-issues divisions and a counterterrorism bureau, alongside organizational, economic, legal, and senior advisory positions.[2] These divisions work with ministries, security and intelligence organizations, academics, and other experts.[2] Preparation and planning for national-security ministerial forums began implementing the 2008 law’s provisions from that year and expanded significantly from 2009, including agendas and proposed participants subject to prime-ministerial approval, background materials, and memoranda presenting policy options.[13]

The Foreign Policy Division coordinates staff work for the prime minister and national-security council head.[14] It analyzes the international arena, identifies interests and threats, recommends diplomatic strategy, prepares meeting and visit materials using government information, and produces periodic assessments.[14] Its work includes strategic dialogues with the United States and European countries and advice on civilian subjects, including climate change and technology, when they have political implications.[14]

The Counterterrorism, Public Security and Home Front Division coordinates work for the prime minister, government, and committees on counterterrorism and civilian emergency preparedness.[15] Its responsibilities encompass military and civilian emergencies, unconventional attacks and hazardous materials, climate-related national-security effects, protection of dignitaries and delegations, and security of ships and aircraft.[15] It also coordinates efforts against hostile activity and weapons smuggling at crossings and maintains international cooperation in these fields.[15]

The Division for Intelligence, Integration and Ministerial Committees prepares integrated national situation reports using intelligence-community information and cooperation with foreign-affairs, security, and planning bodies.[16] It operates the national situation room around the clock, coordinates and monitors prime-ministerial directives, prepares Security Cabinet and other relevant committee meetings, and follows implementation of their decisions.[16] Its responsibilities also include ministerial briefings and formulation of a 100-day policy and national-agenda plan when a new cabinet takes office.[16] The crisis-management situation room was tested during the 2010 Carmel forest fires, expanded afterward, and became fully operational in 2011.[13]

The Legal Department advises the Office’s bureaus, advisers, administrative divisions, and associated bodies, including the State Archives, Government Press Office, National Security Council, and Nativ.[5] Its work includes drafting bills and government resolutions, reviewing proposals, participating in ministerial committees, supporting cross-government changes to institutional responsibilities and structures, and following litigation connected directly or indirectly to the Office.[5]

The Public Affairs Department serves as the principal communication channel between the public and the prime minister.[6] It conveys messages about policies, government decisions, executive operations, and difficulties experienced by individuals or sectors, while answering correspondence, implementing the Freedom of Information Law, and preparing internal reports on public messages and petitions.[6] Communications arrive through email, hotline, post, fax, and referrals from other Office units; matters outside the Office’s jurisdiction are transferred to relevant authorities with notification to the correspondents.[6] Messages addressed to the prime minister are summarized in periodic reports.[6]

The department’s stated handling principles include transparency, professionalism, practicality, fairness, courtesy, good governance, and e-government procedures.[6] The official landing page lists public inquiries at Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Building C, Jerusalem, postal code 9195015, with telephone number 02-6546700.[1] The Office’s website also supplies press releases, current events, prime-ministerial speeches, and links to other government offices, with Hebrew and Arabic versions available.[17]

The Israel State Archives forms part of the Office and is regulated by the Archives Law of 1955.[18] Its listed visitor address is 35 Makor Hayim Street, Jerusalem, while its mailing address is the Prime Minister’s Office, Qiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem.[18] A 2009 institutional account also listed legal advice, internal and state audit work, statistics, coordination and monitoring, and policy supporting women’s equality and prevention of violence against women among the Office’s administrative functions.[8]

The same 2009 account described the Government Names Committee as assigning names to communities, new settlements, industrial areas, and historical sites; the Government Press Office as connecting the government and press corps; and the Government Advertising Bureau as supplying advertising services to government offices and public bodies.[8] A historical assessment by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs described the Press Office’s foreign-journalist services as including credentials, briefings, and interviews with officials.[19] That assessment reported five staff members and approximately $100,000 for foreign-press support in 2002, including about $27,000 for direct foreign-press activities.[19]

The Office’s governance work has included public engagement, methods for assessing government activity, and coordination with Arab citizens of Israel, Bedouin communities, and Israelis of Ethiopian descent.[10] During 12 years in the Office, Ehud Prawer contributed to these fields, helped formalize government relationships with the third sector, and oversaw governance aspects of Israel’s accession process to the OECD.[10] After heading policy planning, he became deputy director-general for governance and social affairs.[10]

In July 2020, the Inter-Office Cooperation Unit’s cooperation models included NGO service provision, particularly in social fields; state support according to defined criteria; and joint initiatives using 50 percent matching funds.[20] The joint-initiative model sought to combine financing with shared planning and management.[20] During the COVID-19 crisis, six roundtable discussions were established in less than 24 hours to address the needs of people requiring special care.[20] The unit’s work also reflected movement toward decisions developed and implemented jointly with the public, relevant NGOs, and local authorities, although government instability and changing ministry priorities could affect cooperation.[20]

The AI Directorate added a technology-policy initiative to the Office’s national-project portfolio.[11] Its establishment package included NIS 120 million, mostly for 2026, and 20 positions, with NIS 13 million annually for salaries and operating expenses beginning in 2027.[11] Its planned combination of national strategy, regulatory assistance, and computing and energy infrastructure linked emerging technology policy to the Office’s cross-government coordinating role.[11]

A recurring institutional dispute concerns the gap between formal coordination powers and practical cooperation.[2][13] The 2008 law did not require the prime minister to use the NSS exclusively for national-security work and left relations between its head and other Office officials to prime-ministerial determination.[2] Assessments published in 2012 differed over its effectiveness, contrasting increasing integration of diplomatic, defense, and intelligence input with turf disputes and incomplete cooperation, including in decision-making before the 2010 flotilla affair.[13] A 2017 analysis likewise criticized prime ministers’ tendency to bypass the body intended to coordinate information and staff work.[21]

The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs argued in October 2002 that information-policy coordination was fragmented among the Office, Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, IDF Spokesman, and police.[19] Its account traced unsuccessful coordination efforts through Yossi Gal’s appointment and resignation and Tzipi Livni’s assignment in August 2001, which ended after the relevant bodies did not accept a single directing authority.[19] These were assessments of that historical period, not current organizational arrangements.[19]

The AI Directorate’s first director was appointed without a tender, prompting concerns about process and transparency.[11] The Civil Service Commission explained that the exemption applied only to the first appointment and cited urgency and the position’s security designation.[11]