Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has stated there is no legal reason prohibiting Aryeh Deri from serving as a cabinet minister, adding he would have difficulty defending this position in the Supreme Court.
Weinstein added that regarding Kulanu party MK Yoav Gallant, who was disqualified from becoming IDF Chief of Staff due to a real estate affair in which he attached public land to his own home, Weinstein explained he too can serve as a cabinet minister. The attorney general added that this is strictly a legal opinion but from a moral and ethical standpoint, it will be difficult defending him against challenges to the Supreme Court as Gallant was not cooperative during the investigation against him. Weinstein feels that defending Deri in court will be equally as difficult from a moral and ethical standpoint.
Deri, who was convicted of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, Weinstein stated there is the matter of the lack of trust in the eyes of the public. Therefore explains the attorney general, regarding petitions to the Supreme Court challenging Deri’s appointment, “I must also emphasize there will be difficulties in defending him as a cabinet minister” stated Weinstein.
Shas officials add that the will of the voters must be respected and Shas and Deri were elected. Party officials add the matters that concern the attorney general took place 30 years ago.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
It is legal because I wish it.
Louis XIV
When he was convicted (albeit of trumped up charges in a kangaroo court),they passed a law banning anyone convicted for a certain number of years. They thought he would drop out of politics, and were shocked when he returned to politics. The reason secular politicians drop out after corruption scandals is that they usually were guilty and were convicted by their peers (note that Israelis courts have no juries, and the courts are overwhelmingly dominated by upper class rich secular Ashkenazim).
The Israeli ruling class would like to charge Deri formally with being an uppity frum Sefardi (he’s definitely guilty, and a repeat offender), but that’s hard to write into a statute without looking silly, and elites hate to look silly.
He’s a convicted felon. I wouldn’t vote for him, and I don’t understand how anyone would.
I suspect that Bagatz will decline to intervene but I still hold out some hope that they will save Am Yisrael from the shame of having this felon serve as a government minister. Oy, meh haya lanu.
The conviction was a farce. I don’t hear anyone saying that John McCain is unsuitable to be a senator because he was jailed for years in Vietnam. The same is true here.
akuperma: I guess you didn’t listen to Rav Ovadia Yosef, ZT’l on tape.
Deri’s behavior, before and during the campaign, indicates that nothing changed.