Israel Katz
Israeli politician, Minister of Defense of Israel
Israel Katz (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּ״ץ; born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized for his role in modernizing Israel's transportation infrastructure, including the expansion of highways, the development of high-speed rail, and reforms to Israel's ports that increased competition and reduced shipping costs. Katz has previously served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Transport, Minister of Intelligence, Minister of Energy, Minister of Finance, and twice as Minister of Foreign Affairs. On 5 November 2024, it was announced that he would be nominated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Defense Minister after Yoav Gallant was dismissed.
Biography
Israel Katz was born in Ashkelon. His parents, Meir Katz and Malka ((Nira) née Deutsch), were Holocaust survivors from the region of Maramureș, Romania. He was raised on Moshav Kfar Ahim. He was drafted into the Israel Defense Force in 1973 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade as a soldier and squad leader. In 1976, he completed Officer Candidate School and returned to the Paratroopers Brigade as a platoon leader. After his discharge in 1977, he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts.
The public source identifies “Israel Katz” as israeli politician, Minister of Defense of Israel. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Israel, Katz and Israeli.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q487304. VIAF identifies the subject as 4296154867603960100001. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955, 2024, 1973 and 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “Israel Katz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.