Netanyahu to fire minister as ordered by top Israeli court

22/1/2023 18:57

        Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will dismiss coalition ally Aryeh Deri from the cabinet on Sunday following a Supreme Court order for his removal over his criminal record.
        
        Confidant Barak Seri, a former spokesman for the minister, said, however, Deri - who was appointed interior and health minister on Dec. 29 - will keep his ultra-Orthodox Jewish party Shas in Israel's coalition government.
        
        The Supreme Court ruling last week against Deri's appointment, given his 2022 plea-bargain conviction for tax fraud, stoked a stormy debate in Israel - accompanied by nationwide protests - over government-proposed judicial curbs.
        
        The less than month-old religious-nationalist alliance creaked elsewhere as a far-right partner planned to boycott the weekly cabinet session in a dispute over Jewish settlement policies in the occupied West Bank.
        
        Seri said Deri would make a final showing as interior and health minister at the cabinet session, at the conclusion of which he would be formally dismissed by Netanyahu.