After the court ruling, Israel’s prime minister sacked Aryeh Deri, who was minister of health and interior affairs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired a senior minister to comply with a Supreme Court ruling amid deepening rifts over the court’s powers.
Netanyahu announced at an Israeli cabinet meeting on Sunday that he would fire Arieh Deli, who served as interior and health minister.
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled last week that Deli cannot serve as a cabinet minister after he was convicted of tax violations last year.
“It is with a heavy heart, great sadness and deep sorrow that I have been compelled to remove you from your position as a government minister,” Netanyahu told Delhi at a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. .
Delhi, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas party, was named to Netanyahu’s cabinet last month following Israel’s November elections.
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the prime minister “must remove Delhi” after he was found guilty of tax fraud in a 2022 plea bargain.
Earlier on Sunday, Delhi confidant Barak Seri told Army Radio that since Shas remained in the coalition, the portfolios would be kept by other members of Shas.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reported from west Jerusalem that the decision “is a very big blow to Benjamin Netanyahu”, who has been trying to limit the power of the country’s highest court.
Khan said Netanyahu “said he was trying to find a way for Ariye Delhi to return to government”.
Last month, Israeli lawmakers passed a law allowing anyone convicted of a crime but not sentenced to prison to serve as minister.
According to a summary of the court decision, the judge ruled that Derry’s appointment was “untenable” because it was “grossly unreasonable”.
However, Netanyahu said on Sunday that the ruling allowing Delhi’s Shas party to remain in power “disregards the will of the people”.
The prime minister said he would try to find any legal way for Delhi to still “contribute to the state of Israel”.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is determined to overhaul the judiciary by introducing reforms that limit the powers of the Supreme Court. It would also give lawmakers more power to appoint judges and overturn Supreme Court decisions.
The plans sparked massive protests in Tel Aviv, where tens of thousands of Israelis rallied Saturday against the controversial reform proposals.
In Israel, which has no constitution, the Supreme Court currently has the power to strike down laws it deems discriminatory or unreasonable.
