Aryeh Deri Denied Permission to Attend Knesset Plenum

Leader of the Sephardic ultra-orthodox Shas Party Aryeh Deri will not be allowed to attend sessions of the Knesset plenum. Deri resigned his seat in the Knesset last week as part of a plea bargain reached in his trial over tax-related crimes.

But Deri, a former longtime cabinet minister, continues to serve as the leader of his party and as a political powerbroker in Israel. And he continues to have an office at the Knesset complex.

Deri’s request for an office there as head of a Knesset party was denied. However, Deri’s replacement as a Knesset member did not take over Deri’s Knesset office so that Deri could continue to use it.

Deri’s party reportedly asked that he be allowed on the floor of the Knesset as a party staffer. Israel’s Kan 11 News reported that Knesset Speaker Miki Levy saw such a move as a mockery of the court’s decision in Deri’s case saying, “If you want to make a joke of the court decision, I will not assist.”