Ministry of Defense (Israel)

Ministry of Defense
משרד הביטחון

Ministry of Defense headquarters
Agency overview
Formed1948
JurisdictionGovernment of Israel
HeadquartersMatcal Tower, HaKirya, Tel Aviv
32°4′30.97″N 34°47′24.55″E / 32.0752694°N 34.7901528°E / 32.0752694; 34.7901528
Annual budget56 billion New Shekel
Minister responsible
Websitewww.mod.gov.il
Minister of Defence flag

The Ministry of Defense (Hebrew: משרד הביטחון, romanized: Misrad HaBitahon, lit. 'Ministry of Security', acronym: Hebrew: משהב"ט) of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Israel from internal and external military threats. Its political head is the defense minister of Israel, and its offices are located in HaKirya, Tel Aviv.

The Ministry of Defense oversees most of the Israeli security forces, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel Military Industries (IMI), and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).[1]

The ministry was established when the British Mandate of Palestine ended, and the British Army departed Palestine and the State of Israel was formed. This ended the rag-tag militia units during British rule and gave way to the formal defense of the Jewish state.

Minister of Defense

The defense minister of Israel (Hebrew: שר הביטחון, Sar HaBitahon, lit. Minister of Security)[2] heads the ministry. The post is considered to be the second most important position in the Israeli cabinet, and usually has a deputy minister. The defense minister is also a permanent member of the Security Cabinet.

Due to the great importance of the defense portfolio, prime ministers have often held the position in addition to their prime ministerial duties; eight of the twenty defense ministers to date were also serving prime ministers. Six of them (Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, Shaul Mofaz, Moshe Ya'alon and Benny Gantz) are also former Chiefs of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

Amongst the duties of the post, defense ministers can request administrative detention. Because of the intensive work and the tension between the political echelon to the military echelon, frequently disagreements and difference of opinion are created between the defense minister and the chief of staff.

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List of ministers

# Minister Party Governments Term start Term end Notes
1 David Ben-Gurion Mapai P, 1, 2, 3, 4 14 May 1948 26 January 1954 Serving Prime Minister
2 Pinhas Lavon Mapai 5 26 January 1954 21 February 1955
– David Ben-Gurion Mapai 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 21 February 1955 26 June 1963 Serving Prime Minister
3 Levi Eshkol Mapai, Alignment 11, 12, 13 26 June 1963 5 June 1967 Serving Prime Minister
4 Moshe Dayan Rafi, Labor Party, Alignment 13, 14, 15, 16 5 June 1967 3 June 1974
5 Shimon Peres Alignment 17 3 June 1974 20 June 1977
6 Ezer Weizman Likud 18 20 June 1977 28 May 1980
7 Menachem Begin Likud 18 28 May 1980 5 August 1981 Serving Prime Minister
8 Ariel Sharon Likud 19 5 August 1981 14 February 1983
– Menachem Begin Likud 19 14 February 1983 23 February 1983 Serving Prime Minister
9 Moshe Arens Likud 19, 20 23 February 1983 13 September 1984
10 Yitzhak Rabin Alignment 21, 22, 23 13 September 1984 15 March 1990
11 Yitzhak Shamir Likud 23 15 March 1990 11 June 1990 Serving Prime Minister
– Moshe Arens Likud 24 11 June 1990 13 July 1992
– Yitzhak Rabin Labor Party 25 13 July 1992 4 November 1995 Serving Prime Minister, assassinated
– Shimon Peres Labor Party 25, 26 4 November 1995 18 June 1996 Serving Prime Minister
12 Yitzhak Mordechai Likud 27 18 June 1996 25 January 1999
– Moshe Arens Likud 27 27 January 1999 6 July 1999
13 Ehud Barak One Israel 28 6 July 1999 7 March 2001 Serving Prime Minister
14 Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Labor Party 29 7 March 2001 2 November 2002
15 Shaul Mofaz Likud 29, 30 4 November 2002 4 May 2006 Not an MK at start of term in office
16 Amir Peretz Labor Party 31 4 May 2006 18 June 2007
– Ehud Barak Labor Party, Independence 31, 32 18 June 2007 18 March 2013 Not an MK at start of term in office
17 Moshe Ya'alon Likud 33, 34 18 March 2013 22 May 2016
– Benjamin Netanyahu Likud 34 22 May 2016 30 May 2016 Serving Prime Minister
Acting minister
18 Avigdor Lieberman Yisrael Beiteinu 34 30 May 2016 18 November 2018[3]
19 Benjamin Netanyahu[4][5] Likud 34 18 November 2018[3] 8 November 2019 Serving Prime Minister
20 Naftali Bennett New Right 34 8 November 2019 17 May 2020
21 Benny Gantz Blue and White 35, 36 17 May 2020 29 December 2022 Serving Alternate Prime Minister
22 Yoav Galant Likud 37 29 December 2022 5 November 2024
23 Israel Katz Likud 37 5 November 2024

Deputy ministers

# Minister Party Governments Term start Term end
1 Shimon Peres Mapai 9, 10, 11, 12 21 December 1959 25 May 1965
2 Zvi Dinstein Alignment 13 17 January 1966 5 June 1967
3 Mordechai Tzipori Likud 18, 19 28 June 1977 10 October 1983
4 Michael Dekel Likud 21, 22 3 December 1985 21 November 1988
5 Ovadia Eli Likud 24 8 July 1991 13 July 1992
6 Mordechai Gur Labor Party 25 4 August 1992 16 July 1995
7 Ori Orr Labor Party 26 27 November 1995 18 June 1996
8 Silvan Shalom Likud 27 9 July 1997 6 July 1999
9 Efraim Sneh One Israel 28 5 August 1999 7 March 2001
10 Dalia Rabin-Pelossof Labor Party 29 7 March 2001 1 August 2002
11 Weizman Shiry Labor Party 29 12 August 2002 2 November 2002
12 Ze'ev Boim Likud
Kadima		 30 5 March 2003 18 January 2006
– Efraim Sneh Labor Party 31 30 October 2006 18 June 2007
13 Matan Vilnai Labor Party 31, 32 2 July 2007 18 January 2011
14 Danny Danon Likud 33 18 March 2013 15 July 2014
15 Eli Ben-Dahan The Jewish Home 34 19 May 2015 3 October 2019[6]
16 Alon Schuster Blue and White 36 28 June 2021 29 December 2022

Directors General

Ministry Of Defense
# Director General Term start Term end
1 Levi Eshkol 1948 1948
2 Eliezer Peri 1948 1949
3 Pinchas Sapir 1949 1951
4 Ze'ev Schind 1951 1952
5 Shimon Peres (acting) 1952 1953
– Shimon Peres 1953 1959
6 Asher Ben-Natan (acting) 1959 1960
– Asher Ben-Natan 1960 1965
7 Moshe Kasti 1965 1970
8 Yeshayahu Lavie 1970 1972
9 Yitzhak Ironi 1972 1975
10 Pinhas Zusman 1975 1978
11 Yosef Ma'ayan 1978 1981
12 Avraham Ben Yosef 1981 1982
13 Aharon Bet-Halachmi 1982 1983
14 Menachem Maron 1983 1986
15 David Ivry 1986 1996
16 Ilan Biran 1996 1999
17 Amos Yaron 1999 2005
18 Jacob Toren 2005 2006
19 Gabi Ashkenazi 2006 2007
20 Pinchas Buchris 2007 2010
21 Ehud Shani 2010 2013
22 Dan Harel 2013 2016
23 Udi Adam 2016 2020
24 Amir Eshel 2020 2023
25 Eyal Zamir 2023 present

Structure

Ministry of Defense building, HaKirya, Tel Aviv.

Notes

  1. ^ Israel Ministry of Defense (in Hebrew)
  2. ^ In Israel, although the "Security Minister" (שר הביטחון) title is translated in English as "Defense Minister," in Hebrew, the Defense Ministers of other countries are more often referred to as "Defense Minister" (Hebrew: שר ההגנה, Sar HaHagana).
  3. ^ a b Raoul Wootliff (18 November 2018). "After Jewish Home anger, Netanyahu says he'll reappoint deputy defense minister". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Israel's Netanyahu will take over defence job for now after minister resigns -spokesman - Channel NewsAsia". Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu takes over defence job as coalition falters". The Straits Times. 16 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Current Knesset Members". knesset.gov.il. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  7. ^ האגף לייצוא ביטחוני (סיבט)
  8. ^ "SIBAT- International Defense Cooperation". english.mod.gov.il.
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