Third government of Israel
The third government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 8 October 1951, more than two months after the elections. His Mapai party formed a coalition with Mizrachi, Hapoel HaMizrachi, Agudat Yisrael, Poalei Agudat Yisrael and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development. There were 15 ministers.
| Third Ben-Gurion Cabinet | |
|---|---|
 3rd Cabinet of Israel | |
 | |
| Date formed | 8 October 1951 |
| Date dissolved | 24 December 1952 |
| People and organisations | |
| Head of state | Chaim Weizmann (until 9 November 1952) Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (from 16 December 1952) |
| Head of government | David Ben-Gurion |
| Member parties | Mapai Hapoel HaMizrachi Mizrachi Agudat Yisrael Poalei Agudat Yisrael Democratic List for Israeli Arabs Progress and Work Agriculture and Development |
| Status in legislature | Coalition |
| Opposition leader | Peretz Bernstein |
| History | |
| Election(s) | 1951 Israeli legislative election |
| Legislature term(s) | 2nd Knesset |
| Predecessor | 2nd cabinet of Israel |
| Successor | 4th cabinet of Israel |
Agudat Yisrael and Poalei Agudat Yisrael left the coalition on 23 September 1952 (though Kalman Kahana remained a deputy minister) shortly after disagreements over the conscription of women into the IDF. This left the government with only 60 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.[1]
The government resigned on 19 December 1952 due to a dispute with the religious parties over religious education.
Two ministers, Eliezer Kaplan and David-Zvi Pinkas died in office.
| The Cabinet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Person | Party | |
| Prime Minister Minister of Defense |
David Ben-Gurion | Mapai | |
| Deputy Prime Minister | Eliezer Kaplan (until 13 July 1952)[lower-alpha 1] | Mapai | |
| Minister of Agriculture | Levi Eshkol (until 25 June 1952) | Mapai | |
| Peretz Naftali (after 25 June 1952) | Mapai | ||
| Minister of Education and Culture | Ben-Zion Dinor | Not an MK[lower-alpha 2] | |
| Minister of Finance | Eliezer Kaplan (until 25 June 1952) | Mapai | |
| Levi Eshkol (after 25 June 1952) | Mapai | ||
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | Moshe Sharett | Mapai | |
| Minister of Health | Yosef Burg | Hapoel HaMizrachi | |
| Minister of Internal Affairs Minister of Religions |
Haim-Moshe Shapira | Hapoel HaMizrachi | |
| Minister of Justice | Dov Yosef (until 25 June 1952) | Mapai | |
| Haim Cohn (after 25 June 1952) | Not an MK | ||
| Minister of Labour | Golda Meir | Mapai | |
| Minister of Police | Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit | Mapai | |
| Minister of Postal Services | Mordechai Nurock | Mizrachi | |
| Minister of Trade and Industry | Dov Yosef | Mapai | |
| Minister of Transportation | David-Zvi Pinkas (until 14 August 1952)[lower-alpha 1] | Mizrachi | |
| David Ben-Gurion (after 14 August 1952) | Mapai | ||
| Minister of Welfare | Yitzhak Meir Levin (until 18 September 1952) | Agudat Yisrael | |
| Minister without Portfolio | Peretz Naftali (until 25 June 1952) | Mapai | |
| Minister without Portfolio | Pinhas Lavon (17 August - 24 December 1952) | Mapai | |
| Deputy Minister of Agriculture | Yosef Efrati | Mapai | |
| Deputy Minister of Education and Culture | Kalman Kahana | Poalei Agudat Yisrael | |
- Died in office
- Although Dinor was not an MK in the second Knesset, he had been an MK for Mapai in the first Knesset.
References
- 1952 timeline Archived 2008-12-03 at the Wayback Machine Jewish Agency for Israel
External links
- Knesset 2: Government 3 Knesset website
