TEL AVIV, December 28. /TASS/. Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that he had decided to appoint Yoav Galant as Defense Minister in a future Israeli government.

"Good luck to the next Defense Minister, Yoav Galant," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

The swearing-in of the new government, which Netanyahu is forming as a result of the November 1 elections, is scheduled for December 29.

The government coalition includes the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism blocs, as well as the far-right political parties Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and Noam, in addition to the Likud party. It controls 64 of the 120 seats in the Knesset (parliament).

Galant is currently a Likud member of the Knesset. In the previous Netanyahu government he served as Education Minister until April 2021. In 2010 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, but his appointment was cancelled before he took office in early 2011 after it was discovered that Galant gave false information on papers and stole the public territory by his private homestead in Amikam.

On December 27, the Knesset approved a law creating a ministerial post in the Israeli Defense Ministry for Religious Zionism Party head Bezalel Smotrich to oversee the Israeli civilian administration of the West Bank and coordinate the Israeli government's actions in the Palestinian territories. On the night of December 22, Netanyahu officially informed Israeli President Isaac Herzog that he had managed to agree on a government coalition after weeks of difficult negotiations with partners.