Eighth government of Israel
# Eighth government of Israel

The eighth government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 7 January 1958, and was the second government of the third Knesset. Ben-Gurion kept the same coalition partners as during the previous government, i.e. Mapai, the National Religious Party, Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda, the Progressive Party, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development. The only change to the cabinet was the addition of Shlomo-Yisrael Ben-Meir as a Deputy Minister.

All ministers and deputy ministers from the National Religious Party left the cabinet on 1 July 1958.

The government collapsed following Ben-Gurion's resignation on 5 July 1959 after Ahdut HaAvoda and Mapam voted against the government during a vote on selling arms to West Germany and then refused to resign from the government. New elections were called in November that year after Ben-Gurion told President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi that he was unable to form a new government.

## Cabinet members

| Position | Person | Party |
| - | - | - |
| Prime Minister | David Ben-Gurion | Mapai |
| Minister of Agriculture | Kadish Luz | Mapai |
| Minister of Defense | David Ben-Gurion | Mapai |
| Minister of Development | Mordechai Bentov | Mapam |
| Minister of Education and Culture | Zalman Aran | Mapai |
| Minister of Finance | Levi Eshkol | Mapai |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | Golda Meir | Mapai |
| Minister of Health | Yisrael Barzilai | Ahdut HaAvoda |
| Minister of Internal Affairs | Yisrael Bar-Yehuda | Ahdut HaAvoda |
| Minister of Justice | Pinchas Rosen | Progressive Party |
| Minister of Labour | Mordechai Namir | Mapai |
| Minister of Police | Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit | Mapai |
| Minister of Postal Services | Yosef Burg (until 1 July 1958) | National Religious Party |
| Minister of Postal Services | Yisrael Barzilai (after 1 July 1958) | Mapam |
| Minister of Religions | Haim-Moshe Shapira (until 1 July 1958) | National Religious Party |
| Minister of Religions | Ya'akov Moshe Toledano (after 3 December 1958) | Not an MK |
| Minister of Trade and Industry | Pinhas Sapir | Not an MK $^1$ |
| Minister of Transportation | Moshe Carmel | Ahdut HaAvoda $^2$ |
| Minister of Welfare | Haim-Moshe Shapira (until 1 July 1958) | National Religious Party |
| Minister of Welfare | Peretz Naftali (after 1 July 1958) | Mapai |
| Minister without Portfolio | Peretz Naftali (until 25 January 1959) | Mapai |
| Deputy Minister of Agriculture | Ze'ev Tzur | Ahdut HaAvoda |
| Deputy Minister of Education and Culture | Moshe Unna (until 1 July 1958) | National Religious Party |
| Deputy Minister of Religions | Zerach Warhaftig (until 1 July 1958) | National Religious Party |
| Deputy Minister of Welfare | Shlomo-Yisrael Ben-Meir (until 1 July 1958) | National Religious Party |

$^1$ Although Sapir was not an MK during the third Knesset, he was later an MK for Mapai.

$^2$ Carmel did not enter the Knesset until 9 June 1958.

