Israeli Vice Prime Minister
| סגן ראש הממשלה | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1952 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Israel |
Deputy leaders in Israel fall into three categories: Acting Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Vice Prime Minister. Deputy Prime Minister and Vice Prime Minister are honorary rather than official executive positions, but entitle the office-holder to a place in the cabinet.
Acting Prime Ministers take the place of the Prime Minister if he or she is temporarily incapacitated, while the incumbent is still in office.
If the Prime Minister is removed by impeachment, dies, or becomes permanently incapacitated, the cabinet appoints an Interim Prime Minister to serve until a new government is formed.
The designated Acting Prime Minister (Hebrew: ממלא מקום ראש הממשלה, Memaleh Mekom Rosh HaMemshala lit. "Prime Minister's Place Holder", or "Prime Minister's stand-in") takes the role of Prime Minister as Acting Prime Minister, for up to 100 consecutive days, if the incumbent is temporarily incapacitated. Whilst in other countries the term "Acting Prime Minister" only refers to an individual actually performing the role, in Israel the term is also in use when a designated minister is allocated, even if they never actually perform the role. The incumbent minister must be also a Knesset member to be eligible for this role.
According to the Basic law: the Government, if such a position was not held by any of the incumbent ministers, in the event of the Prime Minister being unable to fulfill their duties temporarily, the cabinet would vote to appoint one of their own members, who is a Knesset member, as Acting Prime Minister for up to 100 consecutive days.
In the recently installed government of Benjamin Netanyahu, there is no designated Acting Prime Minister.
There can be only one designated minister appointed to such position. However, the holder of this ministry position can hold other ministerial position, as the most recent designated Acting Prime Minister, Tzipi Livni, was also Minister of Foreign Affairs. Confusingly, the term is sometimes referred to as 'Vice Prime Minister', though a separate and different Vice Prime Minister role already exists. If the Prime Minister is abroad, the designated minister summons the government to cabinet meetings; if there is no such designated minister, in such event, the government will vote for one.
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