Eighth government of Israel

Sixth Ben-Gurion Cabinet
8th Cabinet of Israel
Date formed	7 January 1958 (1958-01-07)
Date dissolved	17 December 1959 (1959-12-17)
People and organisations
Head of state	Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Head of government	David Ben-Gurion
Member parties	Mapai Mapam Ahdut HaAvoda Progressive Party National Religious Party Democratic List for Israeli Arabs Progress and Work Agriculture and Development
Status in legislature	Coalition
Opposition leader	Menachem Begin
History
Legislature term	3rd Knesset
Predecessor	7th cabinet of Israel
Successor	9th cabinet of Israel

January 8, 1958:Ministers of the Eighth Government with the President. Sitting from left to right: Levi Eshkol, Yisrael Bar-Yehuda, Golda Meir, President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, David Ben-Gurion, Pinchas Rosen, Peretz Naftali. Standing from left to right: Mordechai Namir, Zalman Aran, Pinchas Sapir, Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, Kadish Luz, Yisrael Barzilai, Yosef Burg, Mordechai Bentov and Moshe Carmel

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
	Yisrael Barzilai (after 1 July 1958)	Mapam
Minister of Religions	Haim-Moshe Shapira (until 1 July 1958)	National Religious Party
	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
	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.

External links

• Third Knesset: Government 8 Knesset website