But reports say Gali Baharav-Miara expected to express reservations over proposed amendment that would allow Shas chief to serve as minister despite suspended jail sentence
The Knesset is due to begin deliberations this week on a bill backed by the incoming right-religious coalition that would ensure Shas chief Aryeh Deri can serve as a minister following his recent criminal conviction.
Current law makes it difficult for a lawmaker who receives a suspended jail sentence — as Deri did in January after pleading guilty to tax offenses — to be appointed to a ministerial post. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said that Deri, who is slated to initially serve as interior and health minister in the likely new government, must get his appointment cleared by the Central Elections Committee, which could refuse.
A member of Deri’s Shas party submitted a bill last month to let individuals who have not served active prison terms over the past seven years be appointed ministers, which if passed would allow the ultra-Orthodox leader to again become a minister without needing to appeal to the elections committee.
Deri was convicted as part of a plea deal that saw him resign from the Knesset, enabling him to dodge a conviction of moral turpitude that would have barred him from returning to office for several years.
According to Hebrew media reports Saturday, Baharav-Miara is expected to raise reservations over the bill but stop short of calling it unconstitutional, feeling she cannot definitely declare that the proposed amendment is a personal measure meant to specifically aid Deri.
Even if Baharav-Miara does not oppose the bill and it ultimately passes, it is likely to be challenged at the High Court of Justice. Channel 13 news, without citing a source, reported that Baharav-Miara is expected to defend the amendment before the court in such a scenario.
The new bill argues that limiting a person’s ability to become a minister should depend on whether or not that person actually served time in jail. It notes that MKs and other holders of public office are not subject to the same limitations currently set for ministers.
Deri’s January conviction was his second conviction during his political career. He previously served 22 months in prison from 2000 to 2002, after he was convicted of taking bribes while serving as interior minister. That verdict carried moral turpitude and he did not return to politics until 2013.
Unlike the so-called Deri bill, Baharav-Miara will reportedly oppose a bill that would give extremist Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir unprecedented authority over the police force as national security minister.
Both Shas and Otzma Yehudit are allied with presumed incoming premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, which together with their other Haredi and far-right partners won a majority of Knesset seats in the November 1 elections. Netanyahu has been working since then to cobble together a new government and on Friday was granted another 10 days to finalize his coalition, giving him until December 21.
Separately Saturday, Channel 12 news quoted unnamed associations of Likud MK Miri Regev saying that she’ll refuse to be appointed education minister and instead demand to return to the Transportation Ministry, which she headed between 2020 and 2021.
The network had reported Friday that Regev was likely headed to the Education Ministry.
Despite Regev’s reported demand, Likud MK Eli Cohen was also said to be have his eyes on being transport minister, as parts of the Education Ministry are due to be lobbed off as part of the various coalition deals that Netanyahu has reached.
Additionally, the television report said Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan was expected to be passover for a ministerial post despite being one of Netanyahu’s most vocal backers in Likud over the past 1.5 years.
Channel 12 said the snub was apparently due to a shouting match in September between Distel Atbaryan and Likud officials who are top aides to Netanyahu over the extent of her involvement in the party’s election campaign.
Distel Atbaryan’s office said in response to Saturday’s report that it had no comment.
As reported by The Times of Israel