Likud MKs said threatening to torpedo law to get Deri back into government

Likud MKs are threatening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will not support a law aimed at getting Shas leader Aryeh Deri back into government unless he finds senior positions for two party MKs, Channel 12 reports.

The government is working on a bill aimed at restoring Deri to his ministerial positions by removing from the High Court of Justice the power to disqualify him, as it has already done.

But Netanyahu has been told that there’s mounting anger in Likud that he is making great efforts to ensure Deri’s positions, but is not “lifting a finger” to do anything for senior Likud MKs David Amsalem and Danny Danon, who were passed over for ministerial positions in the new government.

Channel 12 quotes Likud insiders as warning Netanyahu he might not get votes from the party to support the Deri law.

The report also says that the Religious Zionism party is also uncomfortable with the bill, fearing that such an individually tailored law could undermine the greater effort by the coalition to overhaul the entire judicial system.