JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his education and justice ministers, days after parliament voted to hold new elections.

An official in Netanyahu’s office confirmed that Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, two hawkish former allies, were dismissed from the interim government. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. </s> JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his education and justice ministers, days after parliament voted to hold new elections.

An official in Netanyahu's office confirmed that Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, two hawkish former allies, were dismissed from the interim government. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

There was no explanation for Sunday's firings.

Last week Israel's parliament voted to hold early elections, less than two months after April's polls, as Netanyahu failed to muster a governing coalition.

Shaked, the justice minister, and Bennett, the education minister, have not said if they are running in September's election. Their New Right party failed to enter parliament in April, but they remained on the job pending formation of a new government.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett arrives to attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday, June 2, 2019. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his education and justice ministers, days after parliament voted to hold new elections. An official in Netanyahu's office confirmed that Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, two hawkish former allies, were dismissed from the interim government. (Ronen Zvulun, Pool via AP) </s> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired the education minister and justice minister, an official at the Prime Minister's Office said Sunday.

The official declined to give any details about the circumstances under which Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked were fired.

The Jerusalem Post cited sources close to Netanyahu saying he fired Bennett and Shaked because they had lost public support in the April 9 election.

Bennett and Shaked's the New Right party did not pass the electoral threshold in the general election. Bennett is a member of the security cabinet.

In a joint statement, Bennett and Shaked thanked the public for the privilege of serving in their roles and said: "Everything we did was for the good of the State of Israel and its citizens."

"We will transfer the ministries we headed to the ministers who will replace us in an orderly manner in order to maintain the continuous and good functioning of the Ministries of Education and Justice, and in order for the next school year to begin as planned. "

Netanyahu's decision comes days after parliament voted to dissolve itself after the premier failed to form a government following his April victory.

The next election is set to be held on Sept. 17. </s> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his education and justice ministers, days after parliament voted to hold new elections.

An official in Netanyahu's office confirmed that Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, two hawkish former allies, were dismissed from the interim government. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

There was no explanation for Sunday's firings.

Last week Israel's parliament voted to hold early elections, less than two months after April's polls, as Netanyahu failed to muster a governing coalition.

Shaked, the justice minister, and Bennett, the education minister, have not said if they are running in September's election. Their New Right party failed to enter parliament in April, but they remained on the job pending formation of a new government. </s> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked from the government, his spokeswoman says.

Bennett and Shaked’s New Right party failed to clear the minimum vote threshold in elections on April 9 for Knesset, but the two continued to serve on an interim basis until the formation of a new government. That will now not be until after fresh elections in September, which were called after Netanyahu failed to form a government by Wednesday night’s deadline.

There is no word in the announcement on who will succeed Bennett and Shaked, but Channel 13 news reported Saturday that Netanyahu was expected to tap members of his Likud party for the posts. </s> Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fired ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked on Sunday, removing the two from his cabinet.

The Prime Minister’s Office informed Bennett and Shaked that they would no longer be serving as Education Minister and Justice Minister respectively, following the failure of their party to cross the electoral threshold in the April election. According to Netanyahu, the two can not continue to serve in a sensitive role in the cabinet for six months, especially as they have not been elected by the public.

They both attended Sunday’s Cabinet meeting for the first time since the election.

Former ministers Bennett and Shaked issued a statement saying that they “thank the Israeli public for the rare privilege we have had to serve in our roles as education and justice ministers. All we did was for the good of the State of Israel and its citizens.”

They added that they “will transfer the ministries we headed in an orderly manner to the ministers who will replace us in order to maintain the continuous and good functioning of the ministries of Education and Justice, so that the next school year will open as usual.”

According to a report on Kan news, Netanyahu asked Union of Right-Wing Parties heads Rabbi Rafi Peretz and Betzalel Smotrich to demand the dismissal of Shaked and Bennett as minister, and the two refused. The URP has asked Netanyahu to assume these portfolios. </s> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Sunday in a reshuffle of his interim government as he gears up for the September elections.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the two acting ministers were ousted from their posts, without elaborating. Explaining the sudden termination, officials told Hebrew media the pair could not hold such “sensitive” positions for six months after they failed to be reelected by the public.

The move, however, was widely seen as designed to prevent the once-popular right-wing ministers from using their positions to bolster their campaigns for the fall vote.

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Bennett and Shaked’s New Right party failed to clear the electoral threshold in the April 9 election, and they are no longer members of the Knesset, but remained part of the cabinet for the time being. The two are expected to run again in September, though it remains unclear whether they will run together, and if so whether they will do so independently as the New Right or in a merger with other right-wing parties.

Bennett showed up at the cabinet meeting on Sunday afternoon, after skipping the gathering for weeks after the election. He and Shaked were fired hours after reports emerged that Netanyahu had rejected a call to reserve a slot for Shaked on the Likud party slate.

Though Bennett and Netanyahu have a long history of political cooperation — and the prime minister, should he again come out ahead in the next vote and be tasked with forming the government, could find himself dependent on Bennett’s support — the two politicians have also frequently clashed publicly and bitterly.

In a joint statement, Bennett and Shaked said they would cooperate with their replacements to ensure a smooth transition.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we thank the people of Israel for the rare privilege to serve them as ministers of education and justice,” they said.

“Everything we have done was for the good of the State of Israel and its citizens. We will hand over the offices we chaired in an organized fashion, to the ministers who will replace us, to ensure a smooth transition and so that the next school year will open in order.”

According to a television report on Saturday, Netanyahu plans to fill the vacated cabinet seats with members of his own Likud party.

According to Channel 13, Netanyahu and his advisers have discussed appointing Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin as immigration and absorption minister to help Likud in its outreach efforts to Russian-speaking Israelis during the September election campaign.

As a native Russian speaker and immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Elkin, Likud believes, can help draw votes away from Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party, the traditional home of Russian-speaking immigrants.

Netanyahu is reportedly hoping to punish Liberman and even deprive him of the necessary number of votes to enter parliament in retribution for the latter’s refusal to join a coalition under the terms on offer, causing Netanyahu to fail to build a government last week.

The current immigration minister, Yoav Gallant, would be appointed to a different ministerial portfolio, the report said. Gallant, who was appointed minister after defecting to Likud from Kulanu ahead of April’s elections, would likely be given a promotion to a more senior cabinet post.

The Knesset on Wednesday night voted to disband itself and called new elections for September 17, after Netanyahu failed to broker a compromise between Yisrael Beytenu and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Initial polls have suggested Liberman may emerge from the coalition standoff in a stronger position, and increase his party’s five Knesset seats to eight or nine in the September election. The polls published on Thursday night also predicted Netanyahu’s Likud staying in the lead with 35 or 36 seats in the Knesset.

Israel’s political map is likely to change in the weeks ahead of the September election, with media reports suggesting that Bennett could lead a new right-wing alliance, Labor mulling a new leader and possibly merging with Meretz or Blue and White, and the Arab parties running on a joint list.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. </s> Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, left, speaking as he and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked give a statement at the Knesset in Jerusalem on November 19, 2018.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday informed Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked he was transferring them from their capacity as government and cabinet ministers.

Following Israel's election on April 9, the two remained in the government despite their Hayamin Hehadash party failing to pass the electoral threshold. They were supposed to remain in their ministries until a new government would form.

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However, last week Netanyahu failed to form a new coalition, and passed a bill to dissolve the Knesset and head for new elections. Israel will go to the polls on September 17th.

As soon as their transfer goes into effect (48 hours afer the announcemnet) Netanyahu will assume the roles of acting justice minister and education minister.

Sunday marked Bennett's first cabinet meeting since the election. Netanyahu's decision comes two days before the diplomatic-security cabinet convenes.

Another possibility is for Netanyahu is to appoint ministers in their place, which has not yet been ruled out. Israeli law does not prohibit an outgoing prime minister from appointing or dismissing ministers before an election nor does it require Knesset approval if the appointee is already a Knesset member.

The leaders of the Union of Right-Wing Parties, MKs Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich, were trying to unify the parties to the right of Likud ahead of the upcoming election, but were against allowing Shaked to head a unified Knesset roster.

In an interview Sunday morning on Army Radio, Smotrich, chairman of the National Union, one of the parties which ran jointly under the Union of Right-Wing Parties, addressed Shaked: “You abandoned [it], smashed it, divided, made a mistake. As a result the whole right wing is now in a big tailspin, the whole State of Israel is in a tailspin.” Smotrich said such a step could be considered, but he could think of “no reason in the world” why she should head the Knesset roster.

A source in the Union of Right-Wing Parties said that the chances that Bennett and Shaked would run on that party’s ticket were low, among other things because Rafi Peretz did not want to vacate the number one slot he now holds. Peretz, the source said, had come to Habayit Hayehudi as a star, “not to be number five.”

In response to the firing of Bennett and Shaked, Habayit Hayehudi denied that they sought to have Bennet and Shaked replaced. However a party member said: "Of course, Rabbi Peretz would happily accept the education portfolio and be a member of the cabinet as he was supposed to be."

Following Netanyahu's announcement, Bennet and Shaked said: "We sincerely thank the Israeli public for the rare privilege we have had to serve in our roles as ministers of education and justice, in order to ensure the well-being of the State of Israel and its citizens and the good of the education and justice ministries, so that the next school year will commence as planned." </s> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked as part of a cabinet reshuffle which will remain in place until fresh elections are held in September.

Netanyahu yesterday informed the pair of their dismissal on the grounds that they “cannot continue in their sensitive roles in the cabinet for another six months as they were not elected by the public,” Ynet reported, citing unnamed Israeli government sources.

Bennett and Shaked’s New Right (Hayemin Hehadash) party – which the pair formed in December after breaking away from the Jewish Home party – failed to cross the 3.25 per cent minimum threshold needed to gain seats in the Knesset during the 9 April election.

Bennett and Shaked had thus far maintained their portfolios due to the deadlock in post-election coalition talks, which would have seen new ministers appointed to the 21st Knesset. However, after these negotiations ended in failure last week, no such appointments were made. Israel will now head to the polls again on 17 September, the first time in its history that two elections will be held in the same year.

However, despite not being re-elected in April, on Sunday both Bennett and Shaked attended the cabinet’s weekly meeting, the first to be held since the political impasse of the past two months. Netanyahu was reportedly “outraged” by their attendance, shortly afterwards giving the two ministers 48 hours’ notice that their positions would be terminated. The Jerusalem Post added that “the next cabinet meeting was pushed off by Netanyahu until Tuesday to ensure they would not be able to attend”.

READ: Polls: Israel’s Netanyahu will win more seats in September election

Netanyahu’s decision will be seen as yet another blow to Bennett and Shaked, whose dramatic fall from grace in April has left them struggling to preserve their former prominence and popularity.

Bennett yesterday told reporters outside his home in Ra’anana, north of Tel Aviv, that “this morning I was education minister, tonight I am Naftali,” lamenting that “everyone is replaceable”. Bennett also announced that he will contest September’s election as head of the New Right party, saying the return to the polls has provided “an opportunity for all of us to approach things more wisely, more seriously, more modestly. That goes for me, too”.

There was, however, no mention of Shaked joining Bennett at the New Right party’s helm. Sources close to Shaked reported that she was “surprised” by Netanyahu’s decision, but she has not thus far issued a statement on her dismissal, saying only that she will take a few days to “consider her next move”.

Shaked had been hoping to join Netanyahu’s Likud party, with rumours circulating last week that the prime minister was considering reserving for her a prominent place on the party’s slate. However, Netanyahu yesterday appeared to backtrack on this position, telling Likud party members that she would not be allowed to join the party.

Although the exact reasons for Netanyahu’s about-turn are unclear, reports emerged yesterday that the prime minister’s wife, Sara, has vetoed the prospect of Shaked joining Likud.

According to the Times of Israel – which cited a report yesterday by Israel’s Channel 13 – during the final day of coalition talks the prospect of Shaked joining Likud was discussed. Several witnesses to these talks told Channel 13 that, at this point, Sara took Netanyahu aside and “castigated him for even considering such a move”, saying “Ayelet Shaked won’t be in Likud. Period”.

Though Sara holds no official sway over such matters in her position as the prime minister’s wife, the Israeli daily added that she “has long been rumored to have outsize influence over political appointments and policy”. Her reasons for vetoing Shaked are unknown.

The Netanyahus and the Likud party are not the only ones to have seemingly cast Shaked aside.

The Union of Right Wing Parties (URWP) – an alliance of the Jewish Home, National Union and Otzma Yehudit parties – has made it clear following her dismissal as justice minister that Shaked should not entertain ideas of returning to her former party as leader.

Speaking to Israel’s Army Radio yesterday, URWP number two Bezalel Smotrich slammed Shaked, saying she had “abandoned, divided, crushed and made a mistake that sent the whole country into a whirlwind”. He continued: “You want to come back? We can certainly consider, but I don’t think there’s a reason in the world why you should be number 1.”

However, the controversial Knesset Member (MK)’s comments must also be seen in light of the fact that he and URWP number one, Rafi Peretz, are pushing to be given Bennett and Shaked’s former portfolios. URWP has long conditioned its support of a Netanyahu government on control over the justice and education ministries, two portfolios which will form an integral part of their ambitions to curtail the power of the Supreme Court and “restore the Torah justice system”.

Netanyahu this weekend seemed to have other plans, yesterday offering the justice ministry to Yariv Levin, a Likud MK who currently serves as Israel’s tourism minister. Levin, however, refused the appointment, saying he did not want to serve as justice minister only for the interim period until a new cabinet is chosen.

Netanyahu could be forced to cede to URWP’s demands in order to preserve its support ahead of September’s election, should he have any hope of avoiding a recurrence of April’s coalition deadlock and, ultimately, preserving his position as prime minister.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked and Minister of Education Naftali Bennett from the interim government.