Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Gideon Saar, previously minister without portfolio, as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.
His predecessor, Israel Katz, replaces Yoav Gallant, who was ousted by Netanyahu, who said their trust had been broken.
Katz as the new defense minister was an unexpected choice, with many seeing Saar as the most likely candidate for the job. He is widely seen as Netanyahu’s rival within the right-wing conservative ruling party Likud.
In 2019, he ran against Netanyahu in internal elections for the party leadership, but lost. The following year he left the Likud and founded his own party. In the last government under Netanyahu opponents Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, Saar was justice minister.
