PM set to appoint foreign, immigrant absorption ‎ministers ‎

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday ‎that he plans to name his picks for foreign and ‎immigrant ‎absorption ministers this week.‎

The ministerial reshuffle follows the resignation as ‎defense minister of Yisrael ‎Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman last month and the withdrawal of his party from the ‎coalition, which prompted the ‎resignation of his fellow party member, Immigrant Absorption ‎Minister Sofa Landver.

Netanyahu subsequently decided to keep the defense ‎portfolio for himself, which required him to ‎relinquish the role of foreign minister, a portfolio he ‎has held since the formation of the current coalition in 2015.

According to Likud party sources, Transportation Minister ‎Yisrael Katz is ‎the front-runner for the coveted ‎role of foreign minister, as his appointment ‎would ‎cement various political alliances within Likud. ‎

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, a Likud member, ‎has expressed ‎her desire to become immigrant ‎absorption minister in ‎Landver's place. ‎

Hotovely told Israel Hayom she had asked the ‎prime minister to be appointed to the role.

"This is a very important position. I bring to it a ‎decade of experience in other government roles and I ‎believe it is time I make a considerable ‎contribution to the government," she said.