Israel's institutional crisis: Justice makes it difficult for Netanyahu to form government

Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an order asking MPs for explanations for a law passed early this morning authorising the appointment as minister of Aryeh Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party who was disqualified earlier this year after being convicted of tax fraud. 

An eleven-judge panel will hear arguments for a final decision on 5 January in response to a petition by two Israeli civil society groups against the new law. These groups argued, among other issues, that the immediate entry into force of the new law demonstrates that it is a personalised measure whose sole purpose is to favour Deri according to political considerations. 

With the imminent new Israeli government set to be ratified in the Knesset (parliament) on the 29th, debates initially arose over whether or not Deri could be sworn in as minister, something that was finally confirmed to EFE by legal analysts. Deri can thus be appointed as a minister in the government to be headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and if the Supreme Court decides to overturn the new law, he will have to resign. 

Shas is one of the traditional partners in Netanyahu's previous governments and also in the executive that is to be formed this week, in which Deri would hold the post of deputy prime minister, in addition to holding the interior and health portfolios in the first half of the legislature and finance in the second half, according to what has been agreed in the negotiations. 

However, Deri's support for Netanyahu's sixth government in Israel was conditional on the Knesset passing a law that would allow his rehabilitation to hold high public office and only disqualify those who have been imprisoned, as prison sentences were suspended after a plea bargain was reached with the Public Prosecutor's Office. 

That law involves an amendment to Israel's Basic Law, a sort of constitution, an amendment that the Knesset gave the green light to early this morning, allowing Deri to return to the political frontline, where he has held important ministerial posts since the 1990s in previous Netanyahu governments. 

Deri also previously received another corruption conviction. 

Netanyahu's new government, this time also backed by the far right, is expected to be sworn in before the Knesset on Thursday, having informed Israel's state president Isaac Herzog last week that it had sufficient support to form an executive as a result of the November 1 elections.