JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In the wake of Wednesday’s bombshell decision by Israel’s High Court to disqualify Aryeh Deri from serving as a minister in the government, Deri’s tenure as interior and health minister is expected to end within days. Despite Deri stating that he would not resign, Channel 12 reported that both Deri and prime minister Netanyahu intend to uphold the court’s decision, although it was unclear if the minister would resign or be fired.
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Netanyahu visited Deri at his Har Nof apartment immediately after the verdict was announced by the 11-member court panel. The meeting was apparently to discuss ways in which to still maintain Deri’s presence in the government even if he cannot maintain a ministerial role.
Media pundit Amit Segal explained that there are currently three legal hurdles which Deri is faced with if he wishes to be a minister, and the government will not have the ability to overcome all of them.
The first is the reasonability clause, as seven judges claimed that his appointment as interior and health minister was “unreasonable in the extreme” because of his multiple convictions for corruption charges. On this account the government would be able to restore Deri by cancelling the “reasonability” clause as is intended in the current legal reforms.
However five of the justices cited another legal issue, the estoppel doctrine whereby a court may prevent or “estop” a person from making assertions or from going back on his or her word. In this case the court was referring to a January 2022 plea bargain agreement in which the prosecution agreed to waive prison time or considering the crime a ‘disgrace’ in return for Deri’s retirement from political life.
Deri did not state this explicitly but did accept the plea bargain agreement, although he immediately announced that he was not leaving politics. The court said that this behavior requires it to intervene and prevent Deri from reneging on what had been agreed in the plea bargain.
Deri may refer to the head of the Elections Committee and request that his latest crime not be considered a ‘disgrace’ but it is unlikely that retroactively the committee will accede to his request and allow him to serve as a minister.
A number of other suggestions have been raised, among them that Deri could serve as Speaker of the Knesset or as the Alternate Prime Minister, a role last filled by Benny Gantz in the previous Netanyahu government. This role would not give Deri any power or ministries but would enable him to sit in the cabinet. It is unlikely however that the High Court would authorize such a position and it would also require another change in the basic law of government and the formation of a new government.
Thus, the political crisis initiated by the High Court is not one which can easily be sidestepped or rectified via rapid legislation. The government’s lawyers will need to break their heads to find a way to include Deri in an active advisory role without falling afoul of the court’s imperatives.
One possible solution being suggested is for President Herzog to grant a pardon to Deri for his previous conviction. This would remove the issue estoppel as the entire conviction would be overturned. However Herzog would not use his authority unless the legal reforms are modified. The president has been attempting to reach a compromise over the reforms to reduce tension between the government and the judiciary.