Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced that he is relinquishing the role of foreign minister and handing it to a right-wing rival from within his Likud party, Israel Katz. The move comes ahead of April 9 elections and follows court challenges arguing Netanyahu, who is also health and defense minister ,has taken on too many governmental portfolios.
Netanyahu’s choice of Katz has been seen by a number of analysts as part of political maneuvering ahead of the April 9 polls. Katz, 63, is currently the transportation and intelligence minister and it is unclear whether he would give those roles up. He holds right-wing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has said conditions are not in place now for a two-state solution.
In 2017, he advocated a plan that critics said would amount to de facto annexation of a number of Jewish settlements surrounding Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank. The proposal was shelved. He has also spoken of ideas such as building an island off the Gaza Strip to provide the blockaded Palestinian enclave with infrastructure such as electricity and clean water.
He also promotes a plan for a railway linking Gulf states to the Mediterranean via Israel as part of a bid to normalize relations with Arab countries that currently do not have formal ties with the Jewish state.
Katz is a senior Likud member and wields influence within the party. He has spoken of his ambition to be prime minister, but has no current plans to challenge Netanyahu. The foreign minister portfolio is viewed as more prestigious and high-profile than Katz’s current roles.
Polls suggest Netanyahu is on track to win the elections despite a series of corruption investigations against him. The attorney general is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he intends to indict the prime minister. An announcement on indictments before the polls could shake up the campaign. Netanyahu, has been prime minister for a total of nearly 13 years.