JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed on Sunday acting minister of foreign affairs, following a Supreme Court's petition calling him to relinquish the portfolio.
An official statement said that Yisrael Katz, who has already held the intelligence and transportation portfolios, will be appointed as the acting minister of foreign affairs.
The appointment was scheduled to come to vote at the Sunday's cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu's office announced on Thursday that he would appoint a new acting minister of foreign affairs in response to a petition of the Supreme Court over the multiple ministerial portfolios he holds.
The petition, filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a democracy watchdog group, called Netanyahu to relinquish the foreign affairs portfolio he had been holding since 2015.
Following Netanyahu's re-election in 2015, he has been serving as the country's defense, health, and foreign minister, in addition to his capacity as prime minister.
He also served as communication minister from 2015 to 2017, and held the regional cooperation portfolio before relinquishing it in 2016.
