Who is Israel Katz, the new Israeli defence minister?

JERUSALEM – Mr Israel Katz, formerly Israel’s foreign minister, has been appointed defence minister after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked Mr Yoav Gallant from the post.

Mr Netanyahu said he no longer had trust in Mr Gallant’s management of Israel’s military operations, which include an ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Below are some facts about Mr Katz:

* Born in 1955 in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, Mr Katz was drafted into the military in 1973 and served as a paratrooper, leaving the service in 1977. He has not served in any senior military command position, unlike his predecessor Mr Gallant, who had been a general before becoming defence minister in 2022.

* Mr Katz, a member of Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, has been a member of the Knesset (Parliament) since 1998. In the Knesset, he served on several committees including those covering foreign affairs, defence and justice.

* He has held several ministerial posts in the past two decades, including agriculture, transport, intelligence, finance and energy portfolios. He was appointed foreign minister in 2019.

* As foreign minister, Mr Katz declared Mr Antonio Guterres persona non grata in October over what he said was the UN secretary-general’s failure to “unequivocally” condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel and for what he described as antisemitic and anti-Israel conduct.

* Also in October, he ordered his ministry to start legal proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after Paris banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming military naval trade show.

* Mr Katz has been a low profile figure in Israeli-US interactions during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s 11 trips to Israel since Oct 7, 2023. The top US diplomat has held only a few meetings with Mr Katz, while Mr Blinken regularly met with Mr Gallant.

* Mr Katz studied as an undergraduate and graduate at Israel’s Hebrew University. He is married with two children. REUTERS