Gideon Sa'ar to add interior ministry to foreign portfolio, Likud says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ask his cabinet to approve Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar as Israel's interior minister, his Likud party announced. The Times of Israel reported that, according to the Likud statement, the vote will take place at a cabinet meeting the following day, and that Sa'ar will keep the foreign affairs portfolio alongside the new one.

The interior ministry has had no minister for more than a year. Ynet reported that because Sa'ar will continue as foreign minister, he will in practice hold the interior post on a part-time basis, and that the appointment is meant to be temporary, lasting until a new government is formed. The Jerusalem Post also reported that Likud had confirmed the planned appointment.

Why the post has been empty

The previous interior minister, Moshe Arbel of Shas, resigned in July 2025, according to The Times of Israel, and several of his powers then passed to Netanyahu. Shas is an ultra-Orthodox party whose base is largely among Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent, and it has been a long-standing partner in Netanyahu's coalitions.

The vacancy drew legal challenges. The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu, facing legal proceedings before the High Court of Justice, committed in August to filling the post. The High Court of Justice is Israel's Supreme Court sitting to hear petitions against government bodies, and it is the forum where challenges to how ministries are run are usually brought. The reports do not say which petitions were involved or what the court had specifically required.

What the interior ministry does

The interior ministry is one of the central civilian ministries in Israel. Its responsibilities include the population registry, citizenship and residency matters, and oversight of local authorities. For immigrants and people considering aliyah, the Hebrew term for Jewish immigration to Israel, it is among the offices they deal with most directly, since registration and status questions pass through it. A long period without a minister meant that decisions normally signed by the minister were handled through other arrangements, with some authorities sitting with the prime minister.

Sa'ar's return to a familiar ministry

This would not be Sa'ar's first time in the job. Political commentator Amit Segal, publishing the Likud statement, noted that Sa'ar served as interior minister between 2013 and 2014, a point also made by News.co.il. Sa'ar has been serving as foreign minister, and recent photographs published with the reports show him at a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on September 8, 2026, and in Ljubljana on September 9, 2026, ahead of the opening of Israel's embassy in Slovenia.

The offer to Ofir Katz

According to the Likud statement as reported by several outlets, Netanyahu first offered the interior ministry to Ofir Katz, a member of the Knesset (MK), Israel's parliament, who chairs the Likud faction. Katz turned it down. Amit Segal and News.co.il reported that he did so in order to keep coordinating the moves of the right-wing bloc in the Knesset during the current period. The Times of Israel described his reason as a wish to focus on work related to the bloc. The accounts are consistent; they differ only in phrasing.

A faction chair manages a party's lawmakers in the Knesset, including voting discipline and coordination with allied parties. The reports do not detail what specific bloc work Katz is handling.

How the appointment proceeds

In Israel, the appointment of a minister, including a sitting minister taking on an additional portfolio, is brought by the prime minister to the cabinet for approval. The Likud statement said this will happen at the next day's meeting. Ynet framed the appointment as an interim measure tied to the formation of a new government, rather than a permanent arrangement.

What the reports do not say

• None of the reports carries a response from Sa'ar himself, or from Shas, which previously held the ministry.
• The cabinet vote had not yet taken place when the reports were published, so its outcome is not known.
• It is not reported whether the authorities transferred to Netanyahu after Arbel's resignation will all pass to Sa'ar, or whether the High Court will treat the appointment as meeting Netanyahu's commitment.
• Ynet's description of the role as part-time and temporary is not spelled out in the other reports, and no timeframe is given.