Israel’s Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara has demanded that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fire his interior and health minister Aryeh Deri, after the High Court of Justice ruled that he cannot hold the positions due to previous criminal convictions.
Deri, heads the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, was convicted in February of last year and entered into a plea bargain that saw him receive a suspended sentence and a hefty fine. He told the court at the time that he intended to retire from politics.
“You must act in line with the legal ruling and remove [Deri] from his roles in the government,” the attorney general told the prime minister in a letter published Thursday by her office, according to the Times of Israel.
Deri also received a three-year sentence in 2000 for corruption convictions, serving 22 months in Maasiyahu minimum-security prison in central Israel. He announced in 2011 that he intended to return to political life.
It is unclear whether Deri intends to resign or if Netanyahu will fire him in the wake of the court ruling.