High Court bars Aryeh Deri from holding ministerial posts

A majority of ten High Court judges vs one ruled on Wednesday that Aryeh Deri should not have been appointed by Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu as minister of interior and health, since the Shas leader’s past criminal convictions make his ministerial appointments “extremely unreasonable.” The prime minister’s response to the ruling is awaited.  One Likud source reports that the justice minister Yariv Levin’s hotly disputed judicial reform package is likely to be fast-forwarded through the Knesset since one of its measures would annul “reasonableness” as grounds for the High Court to bar Knesset legislation and government decisions.