Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced, under pressure from justice, to dismiss government number two Arie Dery on Sunday, convicted of tax evasion.

Leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shass party, the second formation of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, Arié Dery was appointed Minister of Health and the Interior in the government formed at the end of December in the wake of the legislative elections on November 1.

But on Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Israel invalidated his appointment and recalled that Arie Dery had announced in early 2022 his withdrawal from political life to avoid prison after his conviction for tax evasion.

“It is with a heavy heart and a lot of pain (…) that we are forced to relieve you of your post in the government”, announced the Prime Minister during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem in the presence of the ousted minister.

He added that the judgment “ignored the will of the people” and that he would try to find a legal way for Arie Dery to “contribute to the service of the State of Israel”.

Already indicted in 1993 then convicted in 2000 for corruption

His removal from the government follows Wednesday's decision by the Supreme Court, the country's highest court.

In a press release, she announced that she had decided by a majority of ten judges out of eleven that the appointment as minister of Arié Dery, “cannot be validated”.

“The Prime Minister must fire him.

Tutelary figure of Shass, a party accustomed to making and unmaking coalitions since the 1980s, Arié Dery has been a minister in many governments.

In 1993, the Supreme Court had already demanded that he be removed from his post as Minister of the Interior, after being indicted for corruption.

In 2000, he was sentenced to three years in prison and released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Despite the announcement of his withdrawal from political life, Arié Dery was elected deputy in the November legislative elections and then appointed to the government.

In a first reaction, the former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition, Yaïr Lapid, described the government as a "circus" on Twitter.

“Netanyahu is weak, but he must appoint a full-time health minister and interior minister today,” he said.

“The citizens of Israel should not pay the price for this government's corruption and disorder.

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Yaïr Lapid joined a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday which gathered some 100,000 Israelis according to media estimates, to proclaim their rejection of the policy of the Netanyahu government, which they claim to fear is an anti-democratic drift.

It is the largest demonstration since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to the helm of the government in December combining right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, the most right-wing in Israel's history.

Benjamin Netanyahu himself is on trial for corruption in several cases and his trial is underway.

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