23 Feb 2023; MEMO: The Israeli Supreme Court ordered, on Thursday, to appoint a session "as soon as possible" to consider a petition filed against the appointment of the far- right Otzma Yehudit Party leader, Itamar Ben Gvir, as Minister, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed the submission of a response to the petition.
The Israeli public broadcaster, Kan 11, said Netanyahu has delayed for weeks the submission of his response to the petition against Ben- Gvir's appointment.
The Supreme Court had given the government's legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara until Tuesday to respond to the petition.
In December, three Israeli citizens and a civil organisation filed a joint appeal to the High Court Ben-Gvir's appointment as National Security Minister.
According to the appeal, Ben-Gvir's appointment suffers from "extreme unreasonableness" due to him being a "serial disrupter of public order", and that he still held extremist and racist attitudes while giving a "false impression" that he had become more moderate.
In January, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the appointment of Shas leader, Aryeh Deri, as Interior and Health Minister was "unreasonable in the extreme" due to his criminal convictions, most recently for tax fraud in 2022.
