Israel Katz

Israel Katz is the man Benjamin Netanyahu chose to replace Yoav Gallant. He was energy minister when the Gaza genocide began, became foreign minister in 2024 and has been military minister since November 2024. His career is a run of threats. Of Gaza he declared: "They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world." In July 2025 he called for a "humanitarian city" on the ruins of Rafah. It would first hold 600,000 displaced Palestinians and then all 2.2 million, and people could not leave except to "voluntarily emigrate". On 14 June 2025 he warned that "Tehran will burn". On 22 August 2025 he promised that "the gates of hell will soon open" and that Gaza City could "turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun". In November 2025 Turkey issued a genocide arrest warrant for him. He and Bezalel Smotrich first set the 2026 military budget at NIS 112 billion ($34B); the final budget passed in March 2026 raised it to more than NIS 142 billion. A minister earns NIS 58,274 a month.