Israel: Netanyahu government number 2 fired under pressure from justice

Israeli politics still looks like an episode from Fauda. In other words, chaos is always there. Thus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced under the pressure of justice to fire on Sunday the number two in the government, Arye Deri, who was convicted of tax evasion.

The leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shass party, the second formation of Netanyahu’s coalition, Aryeh Deri was appointed health and home minister in the government formed in late December following the November 1 parliamentary elections. But on Wednesday, the Israeli Supreme Court invalidated his appointment and recalled that the Orthodox leader announced his retirement from politics in early 2022 to avoid jail after being convicted of tax evasion.

“It is with a heavy heart and great pain (…) that we are compelled to relieve you of your position in the government,” the prime minister stressed during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem in the presence of his ally. He added that the decision “ignored the will of the people” and that he would work to find a legal way for the Shas leader to “contribute to the service of the State of Israel.”

Despite announcing his retirement from politics, Mr. Deri was elected as an MP in the November legislative elections and subsequently appointed to the government. First, former prime minister and opposition leader Yair Lapid called the government a “circus” on Twitter.

“Netanyahu is weak, but today he must appoint a full-time minister of health and minister of the interior,” he said. “The citizens of Israel should not pay the price for the corruption and disorder of this government. »

Mr. Lapid joined a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday, estimated by the media to be about 100,000 Israelis, to declare his opposition to the Netanyahu government’s policies, which they say fear an anti-democratic bias.

It is the largest demonstration since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in December, uniting the right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, the most right-wing in Israeli history.

Netanyahu and Deri v Supreme Court

Benjamin Netanyahu himself is under investigation in several corruption cases and his trial is ongoing. In Israel, the Prime Minister does not have any legal immunity, but must not resign or resign during a trial. At the end of December, deputies voted for a text dubbed by the press as the “Deri law”, allowing a person convicted of a crime but not sentenced to prison to sit in government.

The Supreme Court criticized the law and considered that Deri’s appointment “is in serious conflict with the fundamental principles of the rule of law”.

The guardian of Chasse, a party accustomed to making and breaking coalitions since the 1980s, the Chasse leader has been a minister in many governments. In 1993, the Supreme Court had already demanded his removal from the post of Minister of the Interior after being charged with corruption. In 2000, he was sentenced to three years in prison and released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

In Israel, where the Basic Laws serve as the constitution, only the judiciary can control the government.

However, in early January, Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced a controversial program of reforms to the judiciary, including the introduction of a “liberation clause” allowing parliament to overrule a Supreme Court decision by a simple majority… This reform, which is due to be presented in parliament on an unspecified date, aims to strengthen the power of elected officials over the power of magistrates and, according to its detractors, endangers the democratic nature of the State of Israel.