Bibi Fires Arye Deri from Knesset Following ’Israeli’ ’High Court’ Disqualification

By Staff, Agencies

The “Israeli” entity’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu removed Shas chairman Arye Deri from his position as interior and health minister on Sunday, in accordance with the ruling of the entity’s so-called “High Court of Justice” last Wednesday that Deri was unfit to serve as a minister due to his criminal past.

Netanyahu has written a letter to Deri in which he talked about the qualifications of Deri and “the anchor of experience, intelligence and responsibility that are important” to the “Israeli” entity.  He read out loud at the weekly cabinet meeting.

He went on to say, “Unfortunately, despite the above, on January 18, 2023, the ‘High Court of Justice’ decided that I have an obligation to remove you from your position as interior and health minister," adding that he will "look for any legal way" in which Deri can continue to contribute to the "Israeli" entity.

“I am forced with a heavy heart, with great sorrow and with extremely difficult feelings, to remove you from your position as a minister in the government,” Netanyahu concluded.

He waited until Sunday despite a letter from Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on Thursday that called for him to fire Deri, to give his longtime ally time to decide whether to resign on his own accord. The delay created tension, as some politicians accused Netanyahu of purposely dragging his feet and showing contempt for the so-called “High Court”.

The termination of Deri’s tenure will come into effect on Tuesday morning.

Deri still attended the Knesset’s weekly meeting on Sunday. His seat to Netanyahu’s right was left vacant while Netanyahu spoke to the press at the beginning of the meeting. He entered the meeting after the press had left the room and did not stop to speak to reporters in the hallway.

However, the Likud released a picture from the meeting of Netanyahu and Deri speaking to each other, presumably to show that Netanyahu still considered him an ally.

Deri later on Sunday participated in a meeting of all of the coalition party leaders, and a picture was circulated from that meeting as well.

In response to the cabinet meeting, opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a statement: “What we see here is not a government, it is a circus. Netanyahu is weak, but already today he should appoint a full-time health and interior minister.”

He went on to say that in the cabinet meeting, “Deri was fired due to corruption,” but the ministers from the Religious Zionist Party boycotted the meeting in protest of the war minister abiding by the law.

Lapid concluded that “Israelis” “should not pay the price for this government’s corruption and mayhem.”

The entity’s so-called “High Court” ruled that Deri’s appointment as a minister was “extremely unreasonable” both due to his criminal past and because he had intentionally misled a court approximately a year ago when he promised that he would not rejoin politics, presumably to receive a lenient plea bargain for tax offenses.

The ruling was a 10-1 decision. Some of the justices in the majority refrained from ruling whether the appointment was reasonable, since misleading the courts was enough to disqualify him.

However, Deri may still remain an MK.