Netanyahu drastically changes wartime Cabinet – who are Israel's new foreign and defense ministers, Katz and Sa’ar?

Following the second dismissal of Yoav Gallant from the position of defense minister by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli coalition cabinet will see a slight change as Foreign Minister Israel Katz moves into the position of defense minister, and former Netanyahu rival Gideon Sa’ar will lead Foreign Ministry. 

Israel Katz – a seasoned minister and Netanyahu loyalist 

Katz only recently came into the office of the Foreign Ministry in January 2024 as part of a rotation deal, after holding the position of Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. Former Foreign Minister Eli Cohen took that position under the swap agreement. 

At the time, Katz indicated that securing the release of the hostages would be his top priority. 

“The hostages. The hostages. The hostages,” Katz wrote on the social media platform 𝕏.

Katz is no newcomer to the Office of Foreign Ministry, holding the head position under a previous Netanyahu government in 2019-2020. Katz has held several ministerial roles under Netanyahu, including minister of Agriculture, Transport, Intelligence, Finance and Energy. 

Katz, who has been a member of the Security Cabinet since the current coalition came to power, is considered to be a hardliner on several issues related to security, supporting settlement expansion and the annexation of Judea and Samaria (West Bank).

He opposes a two-state solution and instead favors the creation of an autonomous Palestinian governing entity affiliated with Jordan. 

The new defense minister recently oversaw the severing of ties between the Israeli government and the UN’s Palestinian refugee organization, UNRWA. 

Katz is also considered to be very loyal to Netanyahu and more closely aligned with the prime minister's war goals.

Along with Gallant, he supported the siege of Gaza in the early days of the war, in an attempt to force Hamas to release the hostages. 

Gideon Sa’ar – former Netanyahu ally turned challenger, now returning home? 

Gideon Sa’ar joined the Knesset in 2003, after winning a seat in the Likud party elections. Over the next few years, he rose in prominence within Likud, placing second on the list in the 2009 primaries. 

Except for a short stint of about two and a half years between September 2014 and April 2017, when he took a break from politics, Sa’ar continued to serve in the Knesset as part of the Likud party. 

In 2019, Sa’ar indicated his willingness to run against Netanyahu for leadership of the party, and in December of that year, was defeated by Netanyahu in the party elections. The following year, in December 2020, Sa’ar announced his departure from Likud to form the New Hope party. 

In the elections of 2022, Sa’ar’s New Hope party allied with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, which would be called National Unity. 

National Unity was part of the opposition to the newly formed coalition following the 2022 elections. However, after the start of the Gaza War in 2023, Gantz and Sa’ar, along with three other National Unity members, including Gadi Eisenkot, joined a national emergency government to provide stability during the conflict. 

In March, Sa’ar announced that New Hope would exit the National Unity party after disagreements with Gantz, and threatened to leave the national emergency government if he was not given a seat in the three-member War Cabinet, made up of Netanyahu, Gallant and Gantz. 

A few days later, Sa’ar and New Hope left the government. 

However, as tensions between Netanyahu and Gallant escalated, there were rumors that Sa’ar would be brought back into the government, this time officially joining the coalition government. 

With rumors swirling that Sa’ar would replace Gallant, in September, Netanyahu announced that New Hope would rejoin the government. Sa’ar said it was “the patriotic and right thing to do.” 

Many expected that Sa’ar would quickly be given the role of defense minister. With the start of the ground incursion into Lebanon, Sa’ar said he would not be replacing Gallant at the time while indicating he was open to officially joining the coalition. 

Like Katz, Sa’ar is relatively well aligned with Netanyahu’s war goals. Sa’ar shares a similar stance with Katz on security issues, such as the unwillingness to pursue a two-state solution, the call for greater Israeli control of the territories of Judea and Samaria, and favoring Palestinian autonomy under an alignment with Jordan.