There was never a correlation between a minister's suitability for his position and the decision to appoint him.
From time immemorial, the only consideration in the question of appointing a minister was exclusively the political consideration.
He and his daughter-in-law.
You can lament about it, grieve about it, be angry about it.
But that's the way things are in the country until now.
Chronicle of failed appointments, but politically required, marginal, lazy, unqualified and inexperienced people were summoned to the government table from time to time, just because it was necessary to appoint them as ministers.
Only in recent governments have ministers who have just been elected to the Knesset served without a single day's experience in the legislature or the political system.
Former generals were appointed ministers of education only because there was no other choice.
Defense ministers were appointed without a military record.
Failed finance ministers, flying foreign ministers, and more and more.
Ariel Atias.
Shas will be no less successful even if he leads it,
The appointment of Aryeh Deri as a senior minister in the government, and another one carrying two files, and moreover - the one who should be appointed in two years also as the minister of finance - is unlikely.
Such a person cannot gain access to the public treasury.
Not now and not at all.
Deri would do well if he would give up his positions in the government and continue to lead the movement from the outside, or, if this is impossible, transfer the entire leadership to someone else.
Shas knew how to exist even without Aryeh Deri, in the days of Eli Yishai for example, and it will probably be no less successful even if it is now led by Ariel Atias.
But Deri thought otherwise.
And like him hundreds of thousands of voters who chose him.
Contrary to Supreme Court President Hayut's comment during the High Court hearing on his case, who claimed that they did not choose him to be a minister, but the Knesset appointed him, all 393,000 of the party's voters by completing the ballot pointed to the appointment of Deri as a senior minister in the government. On that occasion, Hayut also excused herself from dealing with the question of why The court allowed Deri's run as the head of a party for the Knesset and did not disqualify him either then or now - retroactively.
Supreme Court Justices at a hearing at the High Court. It is not clear where the stupidity ends and the cunning of animals begins, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Knesset Plenum (archive).
Without Shas there is no coalition, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
From Hayut's point of view, Deri did not run in the elections for the position of minister but for membership in the Knesset.
Yes of course.
It is not clear where the pretentiousness ends and the slyness begins in this comment.
One can chuckle in embarrassment or raise an eyebrow in amazement, but these are the preferences of those who have the right to vote in Israel.
And as long as it is not possible to replace the people, even though there are quite a few that this is what they would really like to see happen, Aryeh Deri must serve as a minister in the government.
For this he was chosen.
The entire government was built on him.
Without Shas there is no coalition. It would be an unlikely appointment, but a small part of a long line of unlikely appointments that the Israeli government has known in the past.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
When Deri's disqualification occurs against the background of Yariv Levin's promotion of legal reform, the question that should be asked is not whether the appointment is appropriate or not, merely unreasonable, or extremely unreasonable.
These are irrelevant questions.
The question that will soon be placed on the Knesset members' desks is who determines what is reasonable and what is not.
Today the answer is left exclusively to the judges.
Morality and reasonableness were taken into their hands.
Only two years ago, in calmer days and without a reform raised like a sword around their necks, the judges unanimously believed that it was reasonable to grant the mandate to form a government to a person with a criminal charge.
Who knows what they would have decided now if that dilemma had been brought before them now.
Esther Hayut's speech last Thursday taught that the judges also know how to be big politicians when needed.
The full column tomorrow in "Israel this week"
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