Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich filed his resignation on Monday evening and will return to the Knesset as an MK. He will then immediately be reappointed as finance minister.
The unusual move’s purpose is to push Otzma Yehudit MK Yizhak Kroyzer out of the Knesset. A rule known as the “Norwegian Law” dictates that ministers may resign their positions as MKs in order to serve solely as ministers. The minister’s spot in the Knesset is then filled by the next in line on the party’s list. If the minister resigns his or her ministerial posts, they return to the Knesset, and push out the “Norwegian” MK.
Some ministers choose to resign their parliamentary posts in order to relieve themselves of the long hours at the Knesset, while others remain MKs to maintain the political leverage of owning a vote in parliament. The decisions of who resigns under the Norwegian Law are usually worked out in advance of the government’s formation as part of coalition negotiations.
Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party and Otzma Yehudit ran on a joint list in the last election. Smotrich resigned from the Knesset soon after taking office, enabling Kroyzer to enter. This was done in exchange for Otzma Yehudit’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu also resigning from the Knesset, which brought in RZP MK Tzvi Sukkot and thus rebalanced the size of each party.
When Otzma Yehudit’s three ministers resigned from the government in January in opposition to the hostage deal, Eliyahu returned to the Knesset and Sukkot was pushed out. Otzma Yehudit returned to the government in March, and Smotrich expected that one of the other two ministers – party leader and National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir or Negev and Galilee Minister Yizhak Wasserlauf – would resign in order to let Sukkot back in. (Eliyahu cannot resign again, as the “Norwegian” procedure is only permitted once per minister.)
However, Ben-Gvir refused and Sukkot remained out of the Knesset. Smotrich therefore filed his own resignation in order to rebalance the numbers of the two parties by pushing out Kroyzer.
The move has disadvantages for Smotrich. The finance minister, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry, will now have to split his time between his ministerial posts and the Knesset, and participate in long Knesset voting sessions.
Ben-Gvir attempted to leverage his position for political gain, including demanding that his party member MK Zvika Fogel be appointed Intelligence Minister. According to coalition agreements between the Likud and Otzma Yehudit, the latter may appoint a deputy-minister in addition to its three ministerial posts. Ben-Gvir proposed that Almog Cohen – officially a member of Otzma Yehudit but who has de-facto been operating independently due to a rift between himself and Ben-Gvir – resign his Knesset seat in order to become a deputy minister, but Cohen refused.
Ben-Gvir's suggestion
Ben-Gvir then pushed the idea that Fogel become Intelligence Minister, and Netanyahu agreed. Smotrich, however, refused, on the grounds that Otzma Yehudit should not be awarded for insubordination, and should not receive more than what it was promised in coalition agreements.
Some members of Smotrich’s party, as well as members of the opposition, also criticized Ben-Gvir for requesting to open another ministry, since the government already has an unprecedented 33 ministers.
Current Innovation, Science, and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud) initially served as Intelligence Minister, but the position remained vacant after she took over her current ministry from Ofir Akunis (also Likud), who was appointed Israeli Consul General in New York in March 2024.