Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, in compliance with a decision of the Supreme Court, removed the leader of the religious party Shas Aryeh Deri - his main ally - from the post of interior and health minister.
"I am forced with a heavy heart and deep sorrow - he said - to remove you from your post as minister in this government".
Netanyahu added that he "will seek every legal avenue" to allow Deri to continue in the future to "contribute to the state of Israel with his experience and his abilities".
The Court had sanctioned his incompatibility as he was convicted of tax crimes.
The Supreme Court had ruled - with 10 out of 11 judges - that Deri could not be appointed minister due to his repeated prison sentences for tax crimes.
Furthermore - he had denounced the Assizes - in the last trial he had promised that he would withdraw from public life in exchange for the suspension of the sentence.
In a letter read during the usual government meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu described the former minister as "an anchor of experience, intelligence and responsibility" explaining that the Supreme Court's decision "ignored the will of the nation".
Deri this morning - despite the Court's ostracism - still presented himself at the government meeting but did not take his place on Netanyahu's right, as per executive session practice.