Jerusalem CNN —
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday dismissed his key ally Aryeh Deri from all ministerial posts, following a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court that it was unreasonable to appoint the Shas Party leader to government positions.
The court had said Deri’s appointment was “unsustainable” because of his criminal convictions and because he had declared in court last year that he would retire before being convicted of a tax fraud conviction.
Netanyahu told Deri he took the step “with a heavy heart and with great sadness,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Deri’s sacking came the day after more than 100,000 people protested in central Tel Aviv against Netanyahu’s government and its planned judicial reforms, according to Israeli media police estimates. Thousands more people protested in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, police said.
This is the third week that opponents of the Netanyahu government have taken to the streets in protest, but the largest turnout to date.
Netanyahu’s Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced earlier this month a series of judicial reforms that would allow Parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions and give politicians more power to appoint judges. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Netanyahu must release Deri, who had previously been convicted of tax offenses, among other things. Deri was serving a suspended sentence and announced that he would resign from public office.
Deris Shas’ party — which won 11 seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, in November and is a key component of Netanyahu’s coalition — immediately hit back, calling the court decision “arbitrary and unprecedented.”
The Sephardi religious party said the court “today threw away the votes and votes of 400,000 Shas movement voters.”
“Today the court actually ruled that the elections are meaningless. The court’s decision is political and corrupt,” the party said.
The Supreme Court had been asked to rule on whether it was legally reasonable to appoint Deri to posts in Netanyahu’s cabinet, despite his conviction for tax fraud. The judges ruled that his appointment “cannot stand.”
“Among other things, this is due to his backlog of criminal convictions” and his failure to withdraw from the public eye, as he had announced when he was sentenced in the tax fraud case.
Opposition leaders, including former Prime Minister Yair Lapid and former Defense Secretary Benny Gantz, took part in Saturday’s protests in Tel Aviv.
“What you see here today is a demonstration in favor of the state. People who love the country have come to defend its democracy, its courts, the idea of a common life and a common good,” Lapid tweeted. “Here are Israel lovers who have come to demonstrate for a democratic Jewish state based on the values of the Declaration of Independence. We won’t give up until we win.”