The thirty-first government of Israel was formed by Ehud Olmert on 4 May 2006, following

Kadima Kadima ( he, קדימה, lit=''Forward'') was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement pl ...

's victory in the March elections. His coalition initially included the Labor Party,

Shas Shas ( he, ש״ס) is a Haredi religious political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, it primarily ...

and Gil, and held 67 of the 120 seats in the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

. The 11-seat

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, russian: Наш Дом Израиль, lit. ''Israel Our Home'') is a secularist, nationalist right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russia ...

joined the coalition in November 2006, but left on 16 January 2008 in protest at peace talks with the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

. With the inclusion of the Labor Party's

Raleb Majadele Raleb Majadele ( ar, غالب مجادلة, Levantine Arabic: ; he, ראלב מג'אדלה, ; also spelt Ghaleb Majadele, born 5 April 1953) is an Israeli Arab politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party in three spells ...

as a Minister without Portfolio on 29 January 2007, it became the first Israeli cabinet to have a Muslim minister. The makeup of the coalition resulted in a

center-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ce ...

government. The government held office until

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

formed the thirty-second government on 31 March 2009, following

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

the month before.

Cabinet members

¹ Peres left office when elected President. ² Barak replaced Peretz when he defeated him in the party leadership election. ³ Pines-Paz resigned from the government in protest at the inclusion of Yisrael Beiteinu.

References

External links

Seventeenth Knesset: Government 31
Knesset website {{Israeli governments 31 2006 establishments in Israel 2009 disestablishments in Israel Cabinets established in 2006 Cabinets disestablished in 2009 2006 in Israeli politics 2007 in Israeli politics 2008 in Israeli politics 2009 in Israeli politics 31 Ehud Olmert