Israel Supreme Court Tells Netanyahu He Must Fire Minister

Israel's Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri (C) reacts as he sits between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin (L) during a weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, on January 8, 2023. (AFP)
Israel's Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri (C) reacts as he sits between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin (L) during a weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, on January 8, 2023. (AFP)
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Israel Supreme Court Tells Netanyahu He Must Fire Minister

Israel's Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri (C) reacts as he sits between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin (L) during a weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, on January 8, 2023. (AFP)
Israel's Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri (C) reacts as he sits between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin (L) during a weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, on January 8, 2023. (AFP)

Israel's Supreme Court ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to remove a senior minister over a past tax fraud conviction, in a setback for the new right-wing coalition government. 

The 10-to-one ruling on Shas party leader Aryeh Deri looks likely to further stoke tensions between the Cabinet and Israel's Supreme Court over government reform plans which aim to rein in the top court. 

"Most of the judges have determined that this appointment is extremely unreasonable and thus the prime minister must remove Deri from office," said a court summary of the ruling. 

Deri, who holds the interior and health portfolios and is due to become finance minister under a rotation deal, confessed to tax fraud last year in a plea deal that spared him jail time. 

Some of the judges in their ruling also cited Deri having previously told the magistrate's court dealing with his tax case, that he would be retiring from politics. 

There was no immediate response to Wednesday's ruling from Netanyahu, who returned to office in December at the head of a hard-right government. But Justice Minister and fellow Likud party member Yariv Levin said the bench had chosen not to respect the people's choice. 

"I will do whatever is necessary to fully repair this glaring injustice done to rabbi Aryeh Deri, the Shas movement and Israeli democracy," Levin said in a statement. 

Levin's reform would increase the government's sway over judicial appointments while limiting the Supreme Court's power to strike down legislation or rule against executive actions, also by removing "reasonability" as a court standard of review. 

The plan, which the government says is needed to rein in judicial overreach by biased elitist judges, has drawn fury among opponents, who say it would undermine judicial independence and weaken democratic checks and balances that underpin the rule of law. 

Coalition partners, including the ultra-nationalist police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, echoed Levin's remarks calling for the plan, yet to be written into law, to be advanced. It is also backed by Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges he denies. 

Shas, which draws much of its support from religious Jews of Middle Eastern descent, won 11 of the Knesset's 120 seats in a Nov. 1 election. It said the ruling was political. "The court decided today that elections are meaningless." 

Political watchdogs had appealed to the Supreme Court to order Netanyahu to strike down Deri's appointment given his recent conviction as well as past offences. In 1999, he was sentenced to three years in jail for taking bribes. 



Netanyahu’s Move to Fire Security Agency Chief Threatens New Crisis in Israel

Ronen Bar, new chief of the Israel Security Agency (also known as Shabak or Shin Bet), enters a vehicle at an undisclosed location in central Israel on October 11, 2021. (AFP)
Ronen Bar, new chief of the Israel Security Agency (also known as Shabak or Shin Bet), enters a vehicle at an undisclosed location in central Israel on October 11, 2021. (AFP)
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Netanyahu’s Move to Fire Security Agency Chief Threatens New Crisis in Israel

Ronen Bar, new chief of the Israel Security Agency (also known as Shabak or Shin Bet), enters a vehicle at an undisclosed location in central Israel on October 11, 2021. (AFP)
Ronen Bar, new chief of the Israel Security Agency (also known as Shabak or Shin Bet), enters a vehicle at an undisclosed location in central Israel on October 11, 2021. (AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bid to dismiss a top security official has threatened to plunge Israel back into deep political crisis, with opponents on Monday organizing protests and a former court president warning against the "dangerous" move.

Netanyahu on Sunday cited an "ongoing lack of trust" as the reason for moving to sack Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, following a similar bid by the government to oust the attorney general.

Bar, who has been engaged in a public spat with Netanyahu in recent weeks over reforms to the agency, suggested there were political motives behind the premier's decision to ask the government to dismiss him.

Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara -- the executive's top legal adviser who has often taken positions that clashed with those of Netanyahu's government -- said the move was "unprecedented" and its legality needed to be assessed.

Bar said it stemmed from his own refusal to meet Netanyahu's demands for "personal loyalty".

The agency led by Bar has been accused of failing to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

Several opposition parties have already announced they will jointly petition the High Court against Bar's dismissal, and the attorney general said in a letter to Netanyahu that he could not initiate the process "until the factual and legal foundation of your decision is fully clarified".

Baharav Miara is herself under threat of a no-confidence motion submitted by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has spearheaded efforts to reform the judiciary and curb the court's powers -- a plan that sparked major protests before coming to an abrupt halt with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

Levin has accused Baharav Miara, a fierce defendant of the judiciary's independence, of "inappropriate conduct" and cited "significant and prolonged disagreements between the government and the attorney general".

The proceeding against the two figures promise to be lengthy, risking a repeat of the 2023 protest movement that was one of the most significant in Israel's history and had deeply fractured the country.

- 'Blow to national security' -

The Kaplan Force, a liberal umbrella organization which led the fight against the judicial reform, on Monday announced rallies in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv this week to protest the dismissal of the Shin Bet head.

The move to sack Bar, who has been involved in negotiations over the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, comes at a crucial time for the talks.

The truce has largely held since January 19 despite an impasse in efforts to extend it.

Since the Gaza war began, Netanyahu has dismissed his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, while several senior military officials have resigned including army chief Herzi Halevi.

Benny Gantz, an opposition figure who once served as defense minister under Netanyahu, said on X that "the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet is a direct blow to national security and a dismantling of unity within Israeli society, driven by political and personal considerations."

Former Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch told Kan public radio that Netanyahu was leading "processes that are dangerous for society".

"We need to wake up, and to wake up in time," she said.

- 'Power-grab' -

For Netanyahu's allies, the move against Bar falls within the normal rights of the head of government.

"In what normal country is a special reason even needed to remove the head of an intelligence organization who is personally responsible for a massive intelligence failure that led to the greatest disaster in the history of Israel?" far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on Telegram.

Nahum Barnea, columnist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, warned of the dangers stemming from the clash between Netanyahu and Bar.

"A prime minister who has lost his brakes will rule as he sees fit, and his failed government will follow in his wake," he wrote.

"It is gradually inching us closer to a form of civil war... in which there is no trust and a refusal to obey in security organizations".

For Amir Tibon, writing for the left-wing daily Haaretz, "Israeli democracy is now in grave danger".

"It's up to Israelis to decide if they'll accept Netanyahu's hostile power-grab -- and how far they will go to stop it".