High Court to deliver ruling on petitions to void Deri appointment next week Sunday

High Court judges questioned the legitimacy of Aryeh Deri’s 2022 plea bargain when on Thursday a panel of 11 judges heard petitions against his ministerial appointments. The judges pointed out that Deri had said he would quit the Knesset if his custodial sentence for tax fraud was suspended. Yet nine months later, he returned to the Knesset at the head of the Shas party and was appointed cabinet minister with two large portfolios. Deri’s attorney Navot Tel-Tsur replied that the plea bargain was seriously misunderstood; Deri had not promised to retire from public life permanently.