(Bloomberg) --
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Health and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, citing a court decision.
“I am forced with a heavy heart, with great sorrow and with a very bad feeling, to remove you from your position as a minister in the government,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Deri, which he read out to the cabinet on Sunday.
The High Court of Justice disqualified Deri from serving as a minister in a Jan. 18 decision. He had been convicted of tax offenses last year and given a suspended sentence. He also served jail time beginning in 2000 following a conviction for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Netanyahu indicated in the letter that he would seek another role for Deri in the government.
“I intend to look for any legal way in which you can continue to contribute to the State of Israel from your many experiences and skills, in accordance with the will of the people,” the prime minister wrote.
Deri heads the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi Shas party, which holds 11 of the 64 seats in Netanyahu’s bloc. While members of Shas warned prior to the court decision that the party would pull out of the coalition if Deri wasn’t in cabinet, there’s no current indication that it’s considering doing so. Nissim Zeev, one of the founders of Shas and a former member of parliament, said Sunday in an interview with Army Radio that the party wouldn’t leave the coalition.
In response to Netanyahu’s letter, Deri said that he has a responsibility to the 400,000 voters who cast their ballots in favor of Shas, and that no court decision would prevent him from serving them and representing them, Channel 12 reported. Deri will remain a member of parliament.
(Updates with further Netanyahu comments starting in fourth paragraph.)
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