When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Health Minister Aryeh Deri on Wednesday, he must have told him that there was no other option but to have him fired, despite their shared displeasure with the Supreme Court ruling striking down his appointment as cabinet minister.
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As expected, Netanyahu's office issued a statement slamming the decision for reversing the will of the voters who elected Deri and his Shas colleagues, but also stated, "We will act in every legal way to right this wrong and remedy the major damage inflicted on the Israeli democratic will of the people and their sovereignty." Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana also issued a statement, saying "now the legislative branch will have its say." This lofty rhetoric also underscores major embarrassment but on the other hand, implies a declaration of war against the judiciary.
Monday's majority opinion that was orchestrated by Chief Justice Esther Hayut has a very detailed explanation of why it came to the conclusion that Deri must not serve as a minister. It does every "i" and crosses every "t". Having deliberated and heard the arguments, 10 justices (including the conservative one) handed down a ruling that Deri's appointment was severely flawed and unreasonable and therefore must be nullified. They cited another reason – Deri misled the justice system by telling the lower court when requesting a plea bargain that he would no longer be involved in public life, only to later tell the higher instances that this was not the case. The justices slammed him for this, noting that he cannot credibly claim that 400,000 people who voted for his party wanted him to be a minister. The justices did not change any basic law with their ruling, they only addressed the disparity – or even the lies – in Deri's statements.
The prime minister doesn't have the right to ignore a court ruling. Doing so would lead to chaos in Israeli society and the message that be that even the average citizen can just disregard the judges
Deri, like Deri, has a lot of ideas. It has been reported that he might appoint his ministry's director general as minister of health instead of him. His son, who said that his portfolios are "not for a stranger," could be appointed as interior minister instead of Deri. This has a foul smell to it, however legal. So is the likely fast-track legislation aimed at having this court ruling overturned. But there are still ways to go, because the ruling is not based on a single rationale, and even if it is overturned, the decision would lay on the doorstep of the Central Election Committee, which could rule that his tax offenses carry moral turpitude.
Whatever unfolds, it is safe to say that the ruling on Monday was a landmark decision when it comes to the relations between the executive and judiciary branches, with the legislative branch now in the position of having to resolve this crisis without setting our house ablaze.
The delicate place where Israeli democracy has found itself in means that Netanyahu cannot even entertain the thought of disregarding the Supreme Court decision striking down Aryeh Deri's appointment. This would send the message that average Israelis can do the same.
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