Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named former military chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon as defence minister Sunday, as he began distributing cabinet portfolios in his new government, dpa reported.
The premier, who officially informed President Shimon Peres Saturday night that he had managed to cobble together a coalition, has been meeting Sunday with potential ministers and deputy ministers from his Likud party, which competed in the January 22 elections as a block with the nationalist-Yisrael Beteinu faction.
Ya'alon, military chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, is a hardliner on the peace process with the Palestinians, but is thought to be opposed to a military strike on Iran until diplomacy has run its course.
He was Strategic Affairs Minister in the outgoing government, and replaces Ehud Barak in the defence ministry.