Israel Katz assumes office as Foreign Minister

On Tuesday, January 2nd, Israel Katz became the 22nd Foreign Minister of Israel. He replaced Eli Cohen, who in turn was appointed the Energy Minister.

The change was made as part of a rotation agreed upon during the coalition negotiations when forming the government. Both ministers will remain in the security cabinet.

During the inauguration ceremony, Minister Israel Katz stated that it is too early to talk about the future of the Gaza Strip and who will control it after the war. "We cannot consider the situation in Gaza without comprehensive assessment. There will be opportunities that have been absent for many years, but only after Hamas is defeated and Gaza is demilitarized. At the moment, we are in the midst of the third world war against Islamic fundamentalism, controlled by Iran," Katz said.

Israel Katz served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from May 2019 to May 2020. Before that, he acted as the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs for three months.