Published
IsraelSupreme Court dismisses Netanyahu’s right-hand man for tax evasion
The appointment of Arie Dery as Minister of the Interior of the new government is not to the liking of the High Court. She asks the head of government to dismiss him.
Will the paths of Benyamin Netanyahu (left) and Arie Dery separate? This is the wish of the Israeli Supreme Court.
Archyde.com
The Supreme Court, Israel’s highest court, invalidated on Wednesday the appointment by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the number two in the government, Arié Dery, convicted of tax evasion. The deputies had however voted in a hurry, at the end of December, a law baptized “Dery law” by the press, authorizing a person convicted of a crime, but not sentenced to prison, to obtain a ministerial portfolio. The objective was thus to allow Arié Dery to obtain a post of minister.
“The Supreme Court has decided that the appointment of the deputy to the post of Minister of the Interior and Health cannot be validated,” said the Court. “The Prime Minister must sack him,” she continues, recalling that Arié Dery, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shass party, announced in early 2022 that he was retiring from political life following his conviction for tax evasion. This withdrawal was even a condition set by the courts to avoid prison.
But he was re-elected in the November legislative elections and appointed to the government set up at the end of December by Benyamin Netanyahu, with his ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies. But in Israel, the judiciary is the only one able to control the government and safeguard individual rights, which it did on Wednesday, via the Supreme Court, in ruling on this appointment.
“An attack on democracy”
“We will make sure to repair this injustice by all legal means,” announced the leaders of the parties of the coalition, in a joint press release qualifying the decision of the court “a serious attack on democracy”. The Shass party, the second largest formation in the coalition, with eleven deputies, denounced “a political decision”.
The new Minister of Justice Yariv Levin announced in early January a controversial program of reforms to the judicial system, which includes the introduction of a “notwithstanding” clause allowing Parliament to overturn a decision of the Supreme Court. This reform, which must be submitted to Parliament on a date still unknown, aims to increase the power of elected officials over that of magistrates and comes at a time when Benyamin Netanyahu is on trial for corruption in a series of cases.
“Illegal government” for the opposition
Yariv Levin called the court’s decision “absurd” and lamented that it “chose not to respect the people’s choice.” For his part, the leader of the opposition, Yaïr Lapid, affirmed that if “Dery is not sacked, the government will be outside the law, and a government which does not respect the law is an illegal government”.
Arie Dery, 63, was first elected to parliament in 1992 under the banner of Shass, which he led for years and served as minister in many governments. In 2000, he was sentenced to three years in prison for corruption and released following serving two-thirds of his sentence.
(AFP)
