The Israeli Supreme Court invalidated, Wednesday, January 18, the appointment of the Minister of the Interior, Arie Deri, who was found guilty of tax evasion. At the end of December, the Israeli deputies voted in a hurry for a text, dubbed the “Déri law” by the press, authorizing a person found guilty of a crime, but not sentenced to a prison term, to obtain a ministerial portfolio, so as to allow the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shass party to enter the government of Binyamin Netanyahu.
“The Supreme Court has decided that the appointment of MP Arié Déri as Minister of the Interior and Health cannot be validated”Israel’s highest court said in a statement. “The Prime Minister must fire him”she continues, recalling that Mr. Déri had announced at the beginning of 2022, after his conviction, that he was retiring from political life.
However, he ran in the legislative elections in November and was re-elected, then appointed Minister of the Interior and Health in the coalition government formed by the right, the extreme right and the ultra-Orthodox.
The Basic Laws prohibit an Israeli citizen charged – let alone convicted – from holding a ministerial post. The judiciary, the only one able to ensure their application and respect for individual rights, therefore invalidated this appointment on Wednesday, despite the “Déri law”.
Attack on democracy
The Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, presented earlier this month a plan for the reform of the judicial system which includes the introduction of a clause “derogatory” allowing Parliament to override a Supreme Court decision. The date of the examination in Parliament is not yet known, but the project has already caused protests. Several tens of thousands of people demonstrated this weekend, in particular to demand the abandonment of this project which many consider to be an attack on democracy.
If Arie “Déri is not sacked, the government will be outlawed and a government that does not respect the law is an illegitimate government”, reacted opposition leader Yair Lapid.
Mr. Déri, 63, was first elected to parliament in 1992 under the banner of Shass, which he led for years and served as a minister in several governments. In 2000, he was sentenced to three years in prison for corruption and released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.