Third government of Israel

The third government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 8 October 1951, more than two months after the elections. His Mapai party formed a coalition with Mizrachi, Hapoel HaMizrachi, Agudat Yisrael, Poalei Agudat Yisrael and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development. There were 15 ministers.

Third Ben-Gurion Cabinet
3rd Cabinet of Israel
Date formed	8 October 1951 (1951-10-08)
Date dissolved	24 December 1952 (1952-12-24)
People and organisations
Head of state	Chaim Weizmann (until 9 November 1952) Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (from 16 December 1952)
Head of government	David Ben-Gurion
Member parties	Mapai Hapoel HaMizrachi Mizrachi Agudat Yisrael Poalei Agudat Yisrael Democratic List for Israeli Arabs Progress and Work Agriculture and Development
Status in legislature	Coalition
Opposition leader	Peretz Bernstein
History
Election	1951 Israeli legislative election
Legislature term	2nd Knesset
Predecessor	2nd cabinet of Israel
Successor	4th cabinet of Israel

Cabinet ministers leaving Prime Minister's office after the first session of Israel's 3rd Government

Agudat Yisrael and Poalei Agudat Yisrael left the coalition on 23 September 1952 (though Kalman Kahana remained a deputy minister) shortly after disagreements over the conscription of women into the IDF. This left the government with only 60 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.^[1]

The government resigned on 19 December 1952 due to a dispute with the religious parties over religious education.

Two ministers, Eliezer Kaplan and David-Zvi Pinkas died in office.

Third government of Israel
Portfolio	Minister	Party
Prime Minister Minister of Defense	David Ben-Gurion		Mapai
Deputy Prime Minister	Eliezer Kaplan (8 October 1951 – 13 July 1952)[a]		Mapai
Minister of Agriculture	Levi Eshkol (8 October 1951 – 25 June 1952)		Mapai
	Peretz Naftali (25 June – 24 December 1952)		Mapai
Minister of Education and Culture	Ben-Zion Dinor		Not an MK[b]
Minister of Finance	Eliezer Kaplan (8 October 1951 – 25 June 1952)		Mapai
	Levi Eshkol (25 June – 24 December 1952)		Mapai
Minister of Foreign Affairs	Moshe Sharett		Mapai
Minister of Health	Yosef Burg		Hapoel HaMizrachi
Minister of Internal Affairs Minister of Religions	Haim-Moshe Shapira		Hapoel HaMizrachi
Minister of Justice	Dov Yosef (8 October 1951 – 25 June 1952)		Mapai
	Haim Cohn (25 June – 24 December 1952)		Not an MK
Minister of Labour	Golda Meir		Mapai
Minister of Police	Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit		Mapai
Minister of Postal Services	Mordechai Nurock		Mizrachi
Minister of Trade and Industry	Dov Yosef		Mapai
Minister of Transportation	David-Zvi Pinkas (8 October 1951 – 14 August 1952)[a]		Mizrachi
	David Ben-Gurion (14 August – 24 December 1952)		Mapai
Minister of Welfare	Yitzhak Meir Levin (8 October 1951 – 18 September 1952)		Agudat Yisrael
Minister without Portfolio	Pinhas Lavon (17 August - 24 December 1952)		Mapai
	Peretz Naftali (8 October 1951 – 25 June 1952)		Mapai
	Eliezer Kaplan (25 June - 13 July 1952)		Mapai
Deputy Minister of Agriculture	Yosef Efrati		Mapai
Deputy Minister of Education and Culture	Kalman Kahana		Poalei Agudat Yisrael

1. Died in office
2. Although Dinor was not an MK in the second Knesset, he had been an MK for Mapai in the first Knesset.