The third government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 8 October 1951, more than two months after the elections.

His Mapai party formed a coalition with Mizrachi, Hapoel HaMizrachi, Agudat Yisrael, Poalei Agudat Yisrael and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development.

Agudat Yisrael and Poalei Agudat Yisrael left the coalition on 23 September 1952 (though Kalman Kahana remained a deputy minister) shortly after disagreements over the conscription of women into the IDF.

This left the government with only 60 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.

Two ministers, Eliezer Kaplan and David-Zvi Pinkas died in office.