Position: Finance Minister of Israel
Incumbent: Yuval Steinitz
Date of Birth: April 10, 1958
Term: Likely to hold the post until next election, scheduled for 2013.
Key facts:
-- With Benjamin Netanyahu deeply involved in setting economic policy, Steinitz was widely seen at the outset as a "yes man" for the prime minister. He has since established himself as a policymaker who has surrounded himself with skilled advisers.
-- Lacking financial credentials, Steinitz was a respected spokesman on defence and security issues and a former chairman of the influential parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defence committee. He has a doctorate in philosophy from Tel Aviv University.
-- Steinitz successfully instituted two-yearly national budgets, a move that has drew praise from major international economic institutions including the International Monetary Fund.
-- While originally for financial reasons, the move has also reduced the fractious coalition's vulnerability in the parliamentary budget vote. Under Israeli law, failure to pass a budget triggers new elections.
-- Emerging on the political scene in the 1980s as an activist in the anti-settler Peace Now movement, Steinitz's political outlook took a rightward turn in 1993 after Israel signed the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians. Steinitz was highly critical of the interim self-rule agreements.
-- Steinitz first entered the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in 1999 when he replaced Netanyahu, who resigned his seat after he was defeated in an election. He was a surprise appointee by Netanyahu after he formed his government on March 31, 2009. (Reporting by Ori Lewis, Editing by Alison Williams)