# Ministry of Transport and Road Safety

The Ministry of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety (MOT) (Hebrew: משרד התחבורה, התשתיות הלאומיות והבטיחות בדרכים, Arabic: وزارة المواصلات والأمان على الطريق) is a government agency that handles transportation and road safety issues in Israel. The ministry headquarters are in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.

## Functions and structure

The Ministry of Transport handles road safety; operation of traffic services; and maintaining international air, sea, and overland links. Land transport departments include the Licensing Division, Vehicles Division, Traffic Division, Road Safety Administration, and Financial Supervision Division. The Shipping and Ports Administration handles maritime transport, and the Civil Aviation Administration handles air transport. The Israel Meteorological Service covers all three areas. Units subordinate to the director-general include Planning and Economics, Legal Counsel, Public Relations, Internal Auditing, Finance, and Emergency Arrangements. The Israel Airports Authority and the Ports and Railways Authority have a special status as corporations established by law.
The Planning and Economics Division coordinates transport policy, work plans, budgets, and funding; sets policy on prices, levies, and fees; monitors the administration of the Airports Authority and the Ports and Railways Authority; coordinates information systems and transportation research; and oversees physical planning and monitoring of master plans.

## Development plans

In 2010, Nir Barkat, mayor of Jerusalem, unveiled a NIS 8 billion transportation plan for the city drawn up in collaboration with the Transport Ministry. The plan includes a new light rail line, extensions of the first phase of the red line now under construction, a series of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes and five new roads.
In 2021 the new minister Merav Michaeli announced a shift in focus declaring "Over the years, planning was done here from a perspective that placed private vehicles in the center. We are turning this around completely and making private vehicles the lowest priority, and as a top priority we are placing the citizens as pedestrians, so there will be as much motivation as possible to walk on foot and ride bicycles, and for it to be possible to take public transportation as much as possible, quickly and efficiently, and for it to be pleasant for us to do this."

## List of ministers

The Minister of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety (Hebrew: שר התחבורה, התשתיות הלאומיות והבטיחות בדרכים, Sar HaTahbura, HaTashtiyot HaLe'umiyot VeHaBetihut BaDrakhim), formerly Minister of Transport, heads the ministry. A relatively minor post in the Israeli cabinet, it is often given to smaller parties in the governing coalitions. Nevertheless, there has been a Minister of Transport in every Israeli government to date. Miri Regev of the governing Likud party is the incumbent.
Three Prime Ministers (David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon) have held the transport portfolio whilst in office, though only for a short time, whilst three Ministers of Transport (Ezer Weizman, Moshe Katsav and Shimon Peres) had gone on to become President.
There is also occasionally a Deputy Minister of Transport.
| # | Minister | Party | Government | Term start | Term end | Notes |
| Minister of Transportation |||||||
| 1 | David Remez | Mapai | P, 1 | May 14, 1948 | November 1, 1950 | |
| 2 | Dov Yosef | Mapai | 2 | November 1, 1950 | October 8, 1951 | |
| 3 | David-Zvi Pinkas | Mizrachi | 3 | October 8, 1951 | August 14, 1952 | Died in office |
| 4 | David Ben-Gurion | Mapai | 3 | August 14, 1952 | December 24, 1952 | Serving Prime Minister |
| 5 | Yosef Serlin | General Zionists | 4 | December 24, 1952 | December 29, 1952 | |
| 6 | Yosef Sapir | General Zionists | 4, 5 | December 29, 1952 | June 29, 1955 | |
| 7 | Zalman Aran | Mapai | 6 | June 29, 1955 | November 3, 1955 | |
| 8 | Moshe Carmel | Ahdut HaAvoda | 7, 8 | November 3, 1955 | December 17, 1959 | Not an MK until 9 June 1958 |
| 9 | Yitzhak Ben-Aharon | Ahdut HaAvoda | 9, 10 | December 17, 1959 | May 28, 1962 | |
| 10 | Yisrael Bar-Yehuda | Ahdut HaAvoda | 10, 11, 12 | May 28, 1962 | May 4, 1965 | Died in office |
| – | Moshe Carmel | Ahdut HaAvoda Alignment Labor Party Alignment | 12, 13, 14 | May 30, 1965 | December 15, 1969 | Not an MK after 17 March 1969 |
| 11 | Ezer Weizman | Not an MK | 15 | December 15, 1969 | August 6, 1970 | |
| 12 | Shimon Peres | Alignment | 15 | September 1, 1970 | March 10, 1974 | |
| 13 | Aharon Yariv | Alignment | 16 | March 10, 1974 | June 3, 1974 | |
| 14 | Gad Yaacobi | Alignment | 17 | June 3, 1974 | June 20, 1977 | |
| 15 | Menahem Begin | Likud | 18 | June 20, 1977 | October 24, 1977 | Serving Prime Minister |
| 16 | Meir Amit | Democratic Movement for Change | 18 | October 24, 1977 | September 15, 1978 | |
| 17 | Haim Landau | Not an MK | 18 | January 15, 1979 | August 5, 1981 | |
| 18 | Haim Corfo | Likud | 19, 20, 21, 22 | August 5, 1981 | December 22, 1988 | |
| 19 | Moshe Katsav | Likud | 23, 24 | December 22, 1988 | July 13, 1992 | |
| 20 | Yisrael Kessar | Labor Party | 25, 26 | July 13, 1992 | June 18, 1996 | |
| 21 | Yitzhak Levy | National Religious Party | 27 | June 18, 1996 | February 25, 1998 | |
| 22 | Shaul Yahalom | National Religious Party | 27 | February 25, 1998 | July 6, 1999 | |
| 23 | Yitzhak Mordechai | Centre Party | 28 | July 6, 1999 | May 30, 2000 | |
| 24 | Amnon Lipkin-Shahak | Centre Party | 28 | October 11, 2000 | March 7, 2001 | |
| 25 | Ephraim Sneh | Labor Party | 29 | March 7, 2001 | November 2, 2002 | |
| 26 | Ariel Sharon | Likud | 29 | November 2, 2002 | December 15, 2002 | Serving Prime Minister |
| 27 | Tzachi Hanegbi | Likud | 29 | December 15, 2002 | February 28, 2003 | |
| 29 | Avigdor Lieberman | National Union | 30 | February 28, 2003 | June 6, 2004 | |
| 30 | Meir Sheetrit | Likud | 30 | August 31, 2004 | May 4, 2006 | |
| Minister of Transportation and Road Safety |||||||
| 31 | Shaul Mofaz | Kadima | 31 | May 4, 2006 | March 31, 2009 | |
| Minister of Transportation, National Infrastructure and Road Safety |||||||
| 32 | Yisrael Katz | Likud | 32 | 31 March 2009 | 18 March 2013 | |
| Minister of Transportation and Road Safety |||||||
| – | Yisrael Katz | Likud | 33, 34 | 18 March 2013 | 17 June 2019 | |
| 33 | Bezalel Smotrich | Union of the Right-Wing Parties | 34 | 17 June 2019 | 17 May 2020 | |
| 34 | Miri Regev | Likud | 35 | 17 May 2020 | 13 June 2021 | |
| 35 | Merav Michaeli | Labor Party | 36 | 13 June 2021 | 29 December 2022 | |
| – | Miri Regev | Likud | 37 | 29 December 2022 | | |

### List of deputy ministers

| # | Minister | Party | Government | Term start | Term end | Notes |
| 1 | Reuven Shari | Mapai | 2 | April 2, 1951 | October 8, 1951 | |
| 2 | Gad Yaacobi | Alignment | 15 | November 2, 1972 | March 10, 1974 | |
| 3 | David Shiffman | Likud | 19 | August 11, 1981 | October 18, 1982 | Died in office |
| 4 | Pinhas Goldstein | New Liberal Party | 24 | July 2, 1990 | November 20, 1990 | |
| 5 | Efraim Gur | Unity for Peace and Immigration Likud | 24 | November 20, 1990 | July 13, 1992 | |
| 6 | Avraham Yehezkel | Labor Party | 29 | March 7, 2001 | November 2, 2002 | |
| 7 | Sofa Landver | Labor Party | 29 | August 12, 2002 | November 2, 2002 | |
| 8 | Shmuel Halpert | Agudat Yisrael | 30 | March 30, 2005 | May 4, 2006 | |
| 9 | Tzipi Hotovely | Likud | 33 | 18 March 2013 | 14 May 2015 | |
| 10 | Uri Maklev | United Torah Judaism | 35 | 25 May 2020 | 13 June 2021 | |