Netanyahu announced he was firing Aryeh Deri, who serves as Interior and Health Minister, at a meeting of his Cabinet. Israel’s Supreme Court decided last week Deri could not serve as a Cabinet minister because of a conviction last year over tax offences.
According to his office, Netanyahu told Deri he was removing him from his post with “a heavy heart and great sorrow.” Deri said he would continue to lead his party and assist the government in advancing its agenda, including the legal overhaul. Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, has made overhauling the country’s judiciary a centrepiece of its agenda. It says a power imbalance has given judges and government legal advisers too much sway over law-making and governance. Critics say the overhaul could help Netanyahu, himself on trial for corruption charges, evade conviction or see his trial disappear entirely.
Go Bibi!