JERUSALEM (JTA) — Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri will resign from the Knesset, but remain in his position as Israel’s interior minister.
Deri made the announcement Monday at a party meeting ahead of the start of the parliament’s winter session. He also holds the Negev and Galilee Development portfolio and serves as a member of the security Cabinet.
Deri said he would submit his letter of resignation because his other positions prevent him from giving enough attention to the Knesset.
He became interior minister in January, more than two decades after resigning from the same position over corruption charges for which he would be indicted and convicted. In 2000, he was sentenced to three years in prison; he spent nearly two years behind bars.
Under his conviction for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Deri was barred from public service in the political arena for seven years. He was reinstated as chairman of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party in 2013.
