Leader of the Opposition (Israel)

The **Leader of the Opposition** (, _Rosh HaOpozitzya_) is the politician who heads the official Opposition bloc in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. The leader of the Opposition is by convention the head of the political party not within the government according to the most votes received in the previous election.

### Leaders of the largest opposition party

|style="width: 140pt;" colspan=2|Name|Portrait|style="width: 100pt;"|Party|Term|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Meir Ya'ari**||Mapam|1949 – 1951|
|style="background:#12B6CF; color:white;"||**Peretz Bernstein**||General Zionists|1951 – 1952|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Meir Ya'ari**||Mapam|1952 – 1955|
|style="background:#12B6CF; color:white;"||**Peretz Bernstein**||General Zionists|1955|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Menachem Begin**||Herut/Gahal|1955 – 1967|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Meir Ya'ari**||Mapam|1967 – 1969|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Yitzhak-Meir Levin**||Agudat Yisrael|1969 – 1970|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Menachem Begin**||Likud|1970 – 1977|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shimon Peres**||Alignment|1977 – 1984|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Yuval Ne'eman**||Tehiya|1984 – 1988|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shulamit Aloni**||Ratz|1988 – 1990|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shimon Peres**||Labor|1990 – 1992|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Yitzhak Shamir**||Likud|1992 – 1993|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Benjamin Netanyahu**||Likud|1993 – 1996|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shimon Peres**||Labor|1996 – 1997|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Ehud Barak**||Labor|1997 – 1999|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Ariel Sharon**||Likud|1999 – 2000|

### Designated Opposition Leaders

After Amendment 8 to the "Knesset law" of 1994 was passed, the Leader of the Opposition became the person elected by the largest faction of the opposition.

|style="width: 140pt;" colspan=2|Name|Portrait|style="width: 100pt;"|Party|Term|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Ariel Sharon**||Likud|30 July 2000 – 7 March 2001|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Yossi Sarid**||Meretz|7 March 2001 – 4 November 2002|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Binyamin Ben-Eliezer**||Labor|4 November 2002 – 28 February 2003|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Amram Mitzna**||Labor|28 February 2003 – 13 May 2003|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Dalia Itzik**||Labor|13 May 2003 – 25 June 2003|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shimon Peres**||Labor|25 June 2003 – 10 January 2005|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Yosef Lapid**||Shinui|10 January 2005 – 23 November 2005|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Amir Peretz**||Labor|23 November 2005 – 16 January 2006|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Benjamin Netanyahu**||Likud|16 January  2006 – 6 April 2009|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Tzipi Livni**||Kadima|6 April 2009 – 2 April 2012|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shaul Mofaz**||Kadima|2 April 2012 – 9 May 2012|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shelly Yachimovich**||Labor|9 May 2012 – 23 July 2012|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shaul Mofaz**||Kadima|23 July 2012 – 5 February 2013|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shelly Yachimovich**||Labor|5 February 2013 – 25 November 2013|||
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Isaac Herzog**||Zionist Union||nowrap|25 November 2013 – 31 July 2018|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Tzipi Livni**||Zionist Union||nowrap|1 August 2018 – 1 January 2019|
|style="background:; color:white;"||**Shelly Yachimovich**||Labor|1 January 2019 – 30 April 2019|||
|style="background: color:white;"||Vacant|30 April 2019 – 17 May 2020|||||
|style="background:#003BA3; color:white;"||**Yair Lapid**||Yesh Atid|17 May 2020 – 13 June 2021|||
|style="background:#1F5AA5; color:white;"||**Benjamin Netanyahu**||Likud|13 June 2021 – 29 December 2022|||
|style="background:#003BA3; color:white;"||**Yair Lapid**||Yesh Atid|29 December 2022 – present|||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Leader of the Opposition
- **insigniasize**: 115px
- **insigniacaption**: Logo of the largest opposition party
- **image**: Yair Lapid (D1237-011).jpg
- **imagesize**: 150px
- **incumbent**: Yair Lapid
- **incumbentsince**: 29 December 2022
- **first**: Meir Ya'ari
- **termlength**: While leader of the largest political party not in government