Knesset member Eitan Ginzburg at the Knesset, on April 29, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
After they became empty, Netanyahu repeatedly resisted calls to fill the ministries with permanent replacements, as part of a wider effort to prevent the appointment of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz as justice minister.
As part of Gantz’s coalition agreement with Netanyahu last year, the position of justice minister was reserved for members of Gantz’s Blue and White-led bloc. Avi Nissenkorn held the post until elections were called late last year, at which point he resigned to run on a separate party’s slate. Gantz, also defense minister, subsequently took on the post in an interim capacity until his temporary tenure ran out last month.