Israel PM removes top minister over court ruling

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu removed a top minister from office Sunday, a statement said, following a Supreme Court ruling against Aryeh Deri’s appointment which has shaken the nascent cabinet.

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“It is with a heavy heart, with great sorrow and with an extremely difficult feeling that I am forced to transfer you from your position as a minister in the government,” Netanyahu told Deri, who held the health and interior portfolios and who was convicted last year of tax evasion.