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The Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials chosen and led by a Prime Minister. Its composition must be approved by a vote in the Knesset. The Prime Minister is able to sack members of the Cabinet, but to satisfy Israeli law he must do this in writing and new appointees must again be approved by the Knesset. Most Ministers are heads of government departments.

Following a general election in March, 2006, the Prime Minister and leader of the Kadima party, Ehud Olmert, formed the 31st government. His coalition government initially included three other parties; the Labour party, the Sephardic Shas party, and Gil, the pensioner's party. His proposed list of Ministers was put before the Knesset and approved on 4 May 2006. The cabinet had 25 members and the parties were represented as follows: Kadima with 12 Ministers, Labour with 7, Shas with 4 and Gil with 2.

The nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu joined the coalition in November 2006, resulting in a slight reshuffle; along with other changes, this left the distribution of ministers as follows: Kadima with 11, Labour with 6, Shas with 4, Gil with 2 and Yisrael Beiteinu with 2, alongside one independent non-MK, Daniel Friedmann. There is also one Deputy Minster (of Defense). In September 2007 another Labour minister was added to the cabinet.

The body discussed in this article is referred to in Israeli official documents as the Government of Israel. This is in accordance to the normal translation of its Hebrew name, (Hebrew: ממשלה‎, memshala). In Israel, the term cabinet (Hebrew: קבינט‎) is generally used for the Politics and Security Cabinet (Hebrew: הקבינט המדיני-ביטחוני‎), an unofficial group of cabinet members that decides on defense and foreign policy issues.

As of 12 September 2007, Israel's 31st Cabinet comprises the following Ministers:

¹ No party affiliation as Friedmann is not a member of the Knesset.

• Current and past cabinets on the Knesset website (in English)
• Basic Law:The Government (2001)

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