Third government of Israel

Third Ben-Gurion Cabinet

3rd Cabinet of Israel
Date formed8 October 1951 (1951-10-08)
Date dissolved24 December 1952 (1952-12-24)
People and organisations
Head of stateChaim Weizmann (until 9 November 1952)
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (from 16 December 1952)
Head of governmentDavid Ben-Gurion
Member partiesMapai
Hapoel HaMizrachi
Mizrachi
Agudat Yisrael
Poalei Agudat Yisrael
Democratic List for Israeli Arabs
Progress and Work
Agriculture and Development
Status in legislatureCoalition
Opposition leaderPeretz Bernstein
History
Election1951 Israeli legislative election
Legislature term2nd Knesset
Predecessor2nd cabinet of Israel
Successor4th cabinet of Israel
Cabinet ministers leaving Prime Minister's office after the first session of Israel's 3rd Government

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.

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)[a] 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[b]
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)[a] 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
  1. ^ a b Died in office
  2. ^ Although Dinor was not an MK in the second Knesset, he had been an MK for Mapai in the first Knesset.
  1. ^ 1952 timeline Archived 2008-12-03 at the Wayback Machine Jewish Agency for Israel