Eight new deputy ministers sworn in

New Knesset speaker meets with Rivlin

By GIL HOFFMAN
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (left) is seen sitting with President Reuven Rivlin. (photo credit: MARK NEYMAN/GPO)
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (left) is seen sitting with President Reuven Rivlin.
(photo credit: MARK NEYMAN/GPO)
Eight new deputy ministers were sworn in at the Knesset on Monday, a week after the swearing in of 34 cabinet ministers.
The new deputy ministers from Likud are Yoav Kisch in the Health Ministry, Gadi Yevarkan in the Public Security Ministry and Fateen Mulla in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Upon being sworn in, Yevarkan, who was born in Ethiopia, noted that it was the anniversary of Operation Solomon, which rescued Ethiopian Jewry in 1991.
From Shas, MK Yitzhak Cohen is deputy finance minister, MK Yoav Ben-Tzur is deputy minister of interior and Negev and Galilee development and Meshulam Nahari is deputy labor and social affairs minister.
United Torah Judaism has two deputy ministers: Uri Maklev in the Transportation Ministry and Meir Porush in the Education Ministry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told the Likud faction his new government initially would embark on six key goals: returning work lost due to the coronavirus crisis, passing the state budget, preparing for a second wave of the virus, security threats from Iran, the International Criminal Court’s false claims of war crimes and applying Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
Yariv Levin, the new Knesset speaker, held his first working meeting on Monday with President Reuven Rivlin. They released a statement afterward saying they would work together for the people and the State of Israel.