Labor no. 2 will serve as minister without portfolio and will be a member of the security cabinet.
By JPOST.COM STAFFami ayalon stern 298(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
MK Ami Ayalon (Labor) will join the government after the high holy days as a minister without portfolio, the Defense Ministry announced Wednesday.
Ayalon will be a member of the security cabinet and the chairman of the ministerial state control committee.
His appointment was approved despite harsh criticism he had leveled against the Olmert administration during the Labor primaries, when he stated that he would try to topple the government.
In his new capacity as chairman of the ministerial state control committee Ayalon will have the clout to oversee the rehabilitation of the home front, an issue he has been vocal about since shortly after the Second Lebanon War.
Already in June, after losing to Barak in the primary, Ayalon was reportedly considered for the education portfolio.
In related news, Kadima MK Shlomo Breznitz, a 71-year-old psychology professor, informed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday of his intention to retire from the Knesset, Israel Radio reported.
Breznitz would be replaced in the Knesset by Kadima director-general Yohanan Plesner. The Harvard graduate has spent the last year creating Kadima's party institutions.
![ami ayalon stern 298 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/4226 "ami ayalon stern 298")