Ministry of Transport and Road Safety

The Ministry of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety (MOT) (Hebrew: משרד התחבורה, התשתיות הלאומיות והבטיחות בדרכים, Arabic: وزارة المواصلات والأمان على الطريق) is a government agency that handles transportation and road safety issues in Israel. The ministry headquarters are in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.[2]

Ministry of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety
Israel
משרד התחבורה, התשתיות הלאומיות והבטיחות בדרכים
وزارة المواصلات والأمان على الطريق

Ministry of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety Headquarters
Agency overview
Formed1948
Preceding agencies
  • Ministry of Transport
  • Ministry of Transport and Road Safety
JurisdictionGovernment of Israel
HeadquartersTransport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety Building, Givat Ram, Jerusalem
Annual budget452 million New Shekel[1]
Minister responsible
Websitewww.mot.gov.il

Functions and structure

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The Ministry of Transport handles road safety; operation of traffic services; and maintaining international air, sea, and overland links. Land transport departments include the Licensing Division, Vehicles Division, Traffic Division, Road Safety Administration, and Financial Supervision Division. The Shipping and Ports Administration handles maritime transport, and the Civil Aviation Administration handles air transport. The Israel Meteorological Service covers all three areas. Units subordinate to the director-general include Planning and Economics, Legal Counsel, Public Relations, Internal Auditing, Finance, and Emergency Arrangements. The Israel Airports Authority and the Ports and Railways Authority have a special status as corporations established by law.

The Planning and Economics Division coordinates transport policy, work plans, budgets, and funding; sets policy on prices, levies, and fees; monitors the administration of the Airports Authority and the Ports and Railways Authority; coordinates information systems and transportation research; and oversees physical planning and monitoring of master plans.[3]

Development plans

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In 2010, Nir Barkat, mayor of Jerusalem, unveiled a NIS 8 billion transportation plan for the city drawn up in collaboration with the Transport Ministry. The plan includes a new light rail line, extensions of the first phase of the red line now under construction, a series of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes and five new roads.[4]

In 2021 the new minister Merav Michaeli announced a shift in focus declaring "Over the years, planning was done here from a perspective that placed private vehicles in the center. We are turning this around completely and making private vehicles the lowest priority, and as a top priority we are placing the citizens as pedestrians, so there will be as much motivation as possible to walk on foot and ride bicycles, and for it to be possible to take public transportation as much as possible, quickly and efficiently, and for it to be pleasant for us to do this."[5]

List of ministers

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The Minister of Transport, National Infrastructure and Road Safety (Hebrew: שר התחבורה, התשתיות הלאומיות והבטיחות בדרכים, Sar HaTahbura, HaTashtiyot HaLe'umiyot VeHaBetihut BaDrakhim), formerly Minister of Transport, heads the ministry. A relatively minor post in the Israeli cabinet, it is often given to smaller parties in the governing coalitions.[citation needed] Nevertheless, there has been a Minister of Transport in every Israeli government to date. Miri Regev of the governing Likud party is the incumbent.[6]

Three Prime Ministers (David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon) have held the transport portfolio whilst in office, though only for a short time, whilst three Ministers of Transport (Ezer Weizman, Moshe Katsav and Shimon Peres) had gone on to become President.

There is also occasionally a Deputy Minister of Transport.[7]

# Minister Party Government Term start Term end Notes
Minister of Transportation
1 David Remez Mapai P, 1 May 14, 1948 November 1, 1950
2 Dov Yosef Mapai 2 November 1, 1950 October 8, 1951
3 David-Zvi Pinkas Mizrachi 3 October 8, 1951 August 14, 1952 Died in office
4 David Ben-Gurion Mapai 3 August 14, 1952 December 24, 1952 Serving Prime Minister
5 Yosef Serlin General Zionists 4 December 24, 1952 December 29, 1952
6 Yosef Sapir General Zionists 4, 5 December 29, 1952 June 29, 1955
7 Zalman Aran Mapai 6 June 29, 1955 November 3, 1955
8 Moshe Carmel Ahdut HaAvoda 7, 8 November 3, 1955 December 17, 1959 Not an MK until 9 June 1958
9 Yitzhak Ben-Aharon Ahdut HaAvoda 9, 10 December 17, 1959 May 28, 1962
10 Yisrael Bar-Yehuda Ahdut HaAvoda 10, 11, 12 May 28, 1962 May 4, 1965 Died in office
Moshe Carmel Ahdut HaAvoda
Alignment
Labor Party
Alignment
12, 13, 14 May 30, 1965 December 15, 1969 Not an MK after 17 March 1969
11 Ezer Weizman Not an MK 15 December 15, 1969 August 6, 1970
12 Shimon Peres Alignment 15 September 1, 1970 March 10, 1974
13 Aharon Yariv Alignment 16 March 10, 1974 June 3, 1974
14 Gad Yaacobi Alignment 17 June 3, 1974 June 20, 1977
15 Menahem Begin Likud 18 June 20, 1977 October 24, 1977 Serving Prime Minister
16 Meir Amit Democratic Movement for Change 18 October 24, 1977 September 15, 1978
17 Haim Landau Not an MK 18 January 15, 1979 August 5, 1981
18 Haim Corfo Likud 19, 20, 21, 22 August 5, 1981 December 22, 1988
19 Moshe Katsav Likud 23, 24 December 22, 1988 July 13, 1992
20 Yisrael Kessar Labor Party 25, 26 July 13, 1992 June 18, 1996
21 Yitzhak Levy National Religious Party 27 June 18, 1996 February 25, 1998
22 Shaul Yahalom National Religious Party 27 February 25, 1998 July 6, 1999
23 Yitzhak Mordechai Centre Party 28 July 6, 1999 May 30, 2000
24 Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Centre Party 28 October 11, 2000 March 7, 2001
25 Ephraim Sneh Labor Party 29 March 7, 2001 November 2, 2002
26 Ariel Sharon Likud 29 November 2, 2002 December 15, 2002 Serving Prime Minister
27 Tzachi Hanegbi Likud 29 December 15, 2002 February 28, 2003
29 Avigdor Lieberman National Union 30 February 28, 2003 June 6, 2004
30 Meir Sheetrit Likud 30 August 31, 2004 May 4, 2006
Minister of Transportation and Road Safety
31 Shaul Mofaz Kadima 31 May 4, 2006 March 31, 2009
Minister of Transportation, National Infrastructure and Road Safety
32 Yisrael Katz Likud 32 31 March 2009 18 March 2013
Minister of Transportation and Road Safety
Yisrael Katz Likud 33, 34 18 March 2013 17 June 2019
33 Bezalel Smotrich Union of the Right-Wing Parties 34 17 June 2019 17 May 2020
34 Miri Regev Likud 35 17 May 2020 13 June 2021
35 Merav Michaeli Labor Party 36 13 June 2021 29 December 2022
Miri Regev Likud 37 29 December 2022

List of deputy ministers

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# Minister Party Government Term start Term end Notes
1 Reuven Shari Mapai 2 April 2, 1951 October 8, 1951
2 Gad Yaacobi Alignment 15 November 2, 1972 March 10, 1974
3 David Shiffman Likud 19 August 11, 1981 October 18, 1982 Died in office
4 Pinhas Goldstein New Liberal Party 24 July 2, 1990 November 20, 1990
5 Efraim Gur Unity for Peace and Immigration
Likud
24 November 20, 1990 July 13, 1992
6 Avraham Yehezkel Labor Party 29 March 7, 2001 November 2, 2002
7 Sofa Landver Labor Party 29 August 12, 2002 November 2, 2002
8 Shmuel Halpert Agudat Yisrael 30 March 30, 2005 May 4, 2006
9 Tzipi Hotovely Likud 33 18 March 2013 14 May 2015
10 Uri Maklev United Torah Judaism 35 25 May 2020 13 June 2021

References

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  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2014-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "MOT General Contacts Archived 2010-07-29 at the Wayback Machine." Ministry of Transport and Road Safety. Retrieved on 26 August 2010.
  3. ^ Ministry of transport
  4. ^ Jerusalem presents new transport plan, Jerusalem Post
  5. ^ "Transport Minister Michaeli: We Rank Private Vehicles as Lowest Priority, Pedestrians Highest". 19 October 2021.
  6. ^ "After Year of Deadlock and Days of Delays, Knesset Swears in New Israeli Government". Haaretz.
  7. ^ All Ministers in the Ministry of Transportation Knesset website
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