Coalition forges ahead with bid to bar court from nixing ministerial appointments

Shelved 2023 bill to allow a minister to serve despite criminal convictions is revived in apparent effort to protect Ben Gvir, who faces petitions for his dismissal

The Knesset House Committee on Monday voted 10-6 to approve the reestablishment of a special committee to deliberate on a coalition bill that would bar the High Court of Justice from intervening in the appointment and dismissal of government ministers, in an apparent push to protect National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The Special Committee for Amendments to the Basic Law: The Government will include nine coalition and seven opposition lawmakers and will be chaired by coalition whip Ofir Katz, ensuring the advancement of the controversial legislation, which would pave the way for the appointment of ministers with criminal convictions.

The bill was last advanced by the government in 2023, after the High Court barred Shas leader Aryeh Deri from serving as a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government due to prior criminal convictions, but the process was halted before it could proceed to the second and third readings required for it to become law.

This time, the legislative process will be restarted to protect Ben Gvir, according to multiple reports, as the High Court examines petitions demanding his dismissal.

Multiple coalition lawmakers and ministers are currently under criminal investigation, including Social Equality Minister May Golan and Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Hanoch Milwidsky.

As the law has passed its initial reading, the government will be able to push it through its second and third readings quickly, completing the process within a matter of days. However, according to the Kan public broadcaster, the government has not made a final decision on whether or not to pass the bill.

Addressing the House Committee, Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik told lawmakers that since the legal circumstances surrounding parts of the bill have changed since it was shelved, it should not be advanced directly to its final two votes without further deliberations in committee. Afik rebuffed opposition requests to transfer the bill to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara (left) attends a hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in Jerusalem, September 30, 2025 (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90); National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting of his Otzma Yehudit party at the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Earlier this month, the High Court ordered Netanyahu to explain why he has not fired Ben Gvir, in the face of assertions from Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara that the far-right minister should be dismissed for systematically abusing his powers and inappropriately intervening in police operations through a “continuous (sometimes sophisticated) system of pressure” on police officers.

She alleged that Ben Gvir had used his office to pressure police on issues including the treatment of anti-government protesters, the status quo on the Temple Mount, protection for Gaza-bound aid trucks and appointments within police ranks.

Ben Gvir has asked the court to reject the petitions seeking his dismissal and insisted earlier this month that the court has “no authority” to order his removal, and that doing so would be to nullify the will of the voters.

In its previous iteration, the bill sought to allow Netanyahu to appoint Deri as health and interior minister, despite repeated criminal convictions, including one less than 12 months before the legislation was drafted.

Deri was convicted in 2022 on tax fraud charges and before that in 1999 on bribery charges.

Netanyahu nevertheless appointed him to his cabinet in late 2022, but was forced to fire him after the High Court ruled his appointment invalid, prompting the legislation that would have allowed him to return to office if finalized.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center), Justice Minister Yariv Levin (left), and Shas party leader Aryeh Deri seen during a Knesset vote on a budget-related law, December 31, 2024. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who opposed the legislation, is at bottom right with back to camera. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

As the legislation was never passed into law, Shas MK Moshe Arbel was ultimately tapped to replace Deri as both health and interior minister, until the health portfolio was handed over to fellow Shas member Uriel Buso several months later.

Deri’s office on Sunday night said the Shas leader supported the bill as “the exclusive authority to appoint and dismiss ministers rests solely with the prime minister, as is appropriate in a democracy.”

However, it asserted that he himself “does not need this law and has no interest in being appointed a minister in the current government.”

All Shas ministers resigned from the government in July 2025 to protest the lack of a law regulating the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF. The party’s lawmakers then followed suit, giving up their posts in the coalition in October for the same reason.