The High-Court’s move to ban Aryeh Deri from ministerial office has opened up a new front in the seething feud between Israel’s right wing and the justice system. But as the efforts to cut the courts down to size get underway, is this the last of Minister Deri?

Judges Hit Back

By Avi Blum Esq.

1.

Twenty-four years ago it was Rav Ovadiah Yosef who rushed to Aryeh Deri’s house after a High Court ruling against the Shas movement’s founder, famously crying, “By law he’s innocent.”

This time it was Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who showed up at Deri’s house for an extended talk after the High Court ruled that the Shas leader must leave the government.

“When my brother’s in trouble, I’m there,” Netanyahu said.

As the most seasoned politician in the country, Bibi was looking after himself as much as his brother.