The Knesset plenum approved Tourism Minister Haim Katz’s appointment as permanent construction and housing minister on Wednesday, replacing UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf.
The vote passed with 41 in favor and 28 against. The Likud MK’s new permanent portfolio will accompany his additional roles as acting welfare minister and acting health minister. He has been tourism minister since 2022.
Ahead of the appointment, Katz signed that he will resign from the position as housing minister if Goldknopf is to return to the coalition along with his ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party, in an official document addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen by The Jerusalem Post.
Katz has been holding the role of acting construction and housing minister since July 15, when Goldknopf and his party resigned from the government and coalition in protest of the advancements with the controversial haredi conscription bill.
Katz then took on the roles of interim welfare and health minister when the other haredi party, Shas, left the government over the conscription law, leaving those portfolios open.
Only Katz and Justice Minister Yariv Levin were chosen to fill the many ministerial roles of UTJ and Shas. Levin has been serving as interior minister, labor minister, and religious affairs minister since July.
The fact that the ministries were given only to Katz and Levin suggested that Netanyahu was intending to safeguard them for the possibility of the haredi parties’ eventual return.
Therefore, it initially appeared that Katz’s permanent appointment for Goldknopf’s position was a signal that UTJ would not return to Netanyahu’s government.
However, the official document that Katz later signed to return the position to Goldknopf if UTJ comes back, appears to indicate that the party may very well return.
<br> <br><strong>Otzma Yehudit resignation from gov't</strong>
Similarly, when the Otzma Yehudit Party resigned from the government in January in opposition to the hostage deal struck with Hamas, the prime minister gave its three ministries to Katz for safekeeping. The ministries were returned to Otzma Yehudit when it rejoined the government in March, after Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza.
Following the vote, Katz stated, “I thank the prime minister for his trust and the members of the government for their support.”
“I will do my utmost to continue the momentum of construction and to expand the housing supply, while removing bureaucratic barriers and improving services for the citizens of Israel,” he added.
Eliav Breuer contributed to this report.