Ministry of Defense (Israel)

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Ministry of Defense
Israel
משרד הביטחון
Matkal Building Tel Aviv.jpg
Ministry of Defense headquarters
Agency overview
Formed 1948
Jurisdiction Government of Israel
Headquarters Matcal Tower, HaKirya, Tel Aviv
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Annual budget 56 billion New Shekel
Minister responsible
Child agency
Website www.mod.gov.il

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The Ministry of Defense (Hebrew: <templatestyles src="Script/styles_hebrew.css" />מִשְׂרַד הַבִּטָּחוֹן‎, Misrad HaBitahon) 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 MOD 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: <templatestyles src="Script/styles_hebrew.css" />שַׂר הַבִּטָּחוֹן‎, 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. The current Defense Minister is Moshe Ya'alon of Likud.

Due to the great importance of the defense portfolio, prime ministers have often held the position in addition to their prime ministerial duties; seven of the sixteen Defense Ministers to date were also serving Prime Ministers. Five of them (Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, Shaul Mofaz and Moshe Ya'alon) 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.

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
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
11 Yitzhak Mordechai Likud 27 18 June 1996 25 January 1999
Moshe Arens Likud 27 27 January 1999 6 July 1999
12 Ehud Barak One Israel 28 6 July 1999 7 March 2001 Serving Prime Minister
13 Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Labor Party 29 7 March 2001 2 November 2002
14 Shaul Mofaz Likud 29, 30 4 November 2002 4 May 2006 Not an MK at start of term in office
15 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
16 Moshe Ya'alon Likud 33, 34 18 March 2013

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 Uri Or 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

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
9 Moshe Kasti 1965 1970
10 Yeshayahu Lavie 1970 1972
11 Yitzhak Ironi 1972 1975
12 Pinhas Zusman 1975 1978
13 Yosef Ma'ayan 1978 1982
14 Aharon Bet-Halachmi 1982 1983
15 Menachem Maron 1983 1986
16 David Ivry 1986 1996
17 Ilan Biran 1996 1999
18 Amos Yaron 1999 2005
19 Jacob Toren 2005 2006
20 Gabi Ashkenazi 2006 2007
21 Pinchas Buchris 2007 2010
22 Ehud Shani 2010 2013
23 Dan Harel 2013 present

Structure

Ministry of Defense building, HaKirya, Tel Aviv.

Notes

  1. Israel Ministry of Defense (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).

External links