Israel Katz, formerly Israel's foreign minister, has been appointed defence minister.
Below are some facts about Katz:
* Born in 1955 in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, 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 Gallant, who had been a general before becoming defence minister in 2022
* Katz, a member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, has been a member of the Knesset (parliament) since 1998
* 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, Katz declared Antonio Guterres persona non grata in October over what he said was the U.N. secretary-general's failure to "unequivocally" condemn Iran's missile attack on Israel and for what he described as antisemitic and anti-Israel
Below are some facts about Katz:
* Born in 1955 in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, 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 Gallant, who had been a general before becoming defence minister in 2022
* Katz, a member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, has been a member of the Knesset (parliament) since 1998
* 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, Katz declared Antonio Guterres persona non grata in October over what he said was the U.N. secretary-general's failure to "unequivocally" condemn Iran's missile attack on Israel and for what he described as antisemitic and anti-Israel
1 yr. ago
