Far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir has been reappointed as Israel’s national security minister, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Wednesday.
Two other members of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party also returned to their ministerial posts.
They had all quit the government in January in protest over the ceasefire and hostage-prisoner release deal Netanyahu struck with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Ben-Gvir’s return comes despite a Tuesday night opinion from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who determined that Netanyahu could not legally reappoint him to the same Cabinet position.
Baharav-Miara previously accused Ben-Gvir of unlawfully interfering in police operations. While the attorney general did not offer specifics in her statement, Israeli media said this allegation was likely the grounds on which she determined Ben-Gvir could not serve in the role again.
Netanyahu’s right-wing and religiously conservative government is pushing to remove the attorney general, who has repeatedly opposed political decisions she deems unlawful.
Ben-Gvir back after ceasefire collapses
After two months of relative calm, the ceasefire was shattered on Tuesday as Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across Gaza. More than 400 people were killed and hundreds wounded, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Israel blamed the renewed hostilities on Hamas’ refusal to release more hostages amid deadlocked negotiations on extending the ceasefire.
Hamas has accused Israel of endangering the remaining hostages still held in Gaza since the war erupted following the Hamas-led massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023. The group demands that any future ceasefire deal include a full Israeli troop withdrawal and an end to the war — conditions Israel has so far rejected.
