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Netanyahu fires top minister to comply with court ruling

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Knesset member Aryeh Deri of the Haredi religious party Shas in Jerusalem on Dec. 13. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP)
By Isabel Kershner New York Times

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday dismissed a senior minister recently convicted of tax fraud to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that disqualified the minister from serving, shaking the right-wing government just weeks after it came to power.

By complying with the court’s ruling to remove the minister, Aryeh Deri, Netanyahu avoided an instant, head-on clash with the judiciary at a time when the country is already locked in a fierce debate over government plans for a judicial overhaul. Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest against the plans to limit the judiciary’s powers, seen by many as a challenge to Israel’s democratic system. About 130,000 protesters came out Saturday night in Tel Aviv and other cities, according to the Israeli news media.

“I am forced, with a heavy heart, great sorrow and a very difficult feeling, to remove you from your position as a minister in the government,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Deri that the prime minister read out in his weekly Cabinet meeting, with Deri in attendance.

“I intend to seek any legal way for you to be able to continue to contribute to the state of Israel with your great experience and skills, in accordance with the will of the people,” Netanyahu added.

Netanyahu denounced the Supreme Court order as “a regrettable decision that ignores the will of the people.” Deri’s dismissal will take effect in the next 48 hours.

But Netanyahu, himself on trial for corruption, faces the predicament of how to compensate Deri, the leader of Shas, an ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party, and a close political ally whose support is key to the stability and survival of the coalition government.

Addressing the Cabinet after the letter was read, Deri said, “I have an iron commitment to the 400,000 people who voted for me and Shas,” according to Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster. “No judicial decision will prevent me from serving them and representing them,” he said, adding, “I intend to continue to contribute with all my might to the public and the coalition.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.