AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s so-called supreme court ruled Wednesday that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu must fire a key ally from the regime’s new cabinet, presenting the new rulers with a potential coalition crisis and deepening a rift over the power of the courts.
The high court ruled that Aryeh Deri, the influential head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who has served repeatedly in Netanyahu’s previous cabinets, is disqualified from serving as a minister after he was convicted last year for tax offenses and placed on probation as part of a plea deal. Deri has pledged not to quit and met after the ruling with Netanyahu.
“Most of the judges on the panel decided that this appointment suffers from extreme unreasonability, and therefore the prime minister must remove Deri from his position,” the court said in a statement.
The much-anticipated ruling comes as the regime is being roiled by a dispute over sweeping changes to the regime’s legal system. One such proposal under consideration is the elimination of the court’s “reasonability” test when reviewing cabinet decisions.
Critics say the various changes at issue would place too much power in the hands of the regime.
Netanyahu will now have to decide whether he abides by the court ruling and fires his key ally, Deri — or takes the dispute with the judicial system up a notch and defies it. A spokesman for Netanyahu had no immediate comment.
But the leaders of the parties in the ruling coalition decried the ruling.
It’s not clear whether the proposed legal changes, including a plan to allow lawmakers to overrule supreme court decisions, could retroactively be applied to Deri’s case.
Critics said such a move would bend the rules to accommodate a convict and could encourage corruption among politicians.
The ruling carries potentially troublesome consequences for Netanyahu’s coalition.