The High Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to explain why he hasn’t fired Itamar Ben Gvir as national security minister, amid an ongoing court case over the far-right politician’s practices and policies in office.

In the ruling, signed by five Supreme Court justices, the court demanded Netanyahu “explain why he should not order the removal” of Ben Gvir from his ministerial post. The court gave Netanyahu and Ben Gvir until March 10 to submit their responses.

A hearing on the petitions is slated for March 24, the court said, also declaring that the panel of justices that will hear the case is being expanded to nine: President Isaac Amit, Noam Sohlberg, Daphne Barak-Erez, Yael Willner, Ofer Grosskopf, Alex Stein, Gila Canfy-Steinitz, Chaled Kabub and Yechiel Kasher.

The court said it was expanding the panel of judges in light of “the nature and the gravity” of the case. High Court hearings are generally heard by three justices, but the court can expand that to five or nine — or even the entire bench — on issues it deems particularly sensitive.

A hearing was originally scheduled for January 15, but a day before it was slated to take place the court delayed it until late March, and at the time also ordered the panel to be expanded to five justices.

Responding to the High Court on Wednesday, Ben Gvir accused the justices of seeking to nullify the will of the voters.

“The High Court of Justice doesn’t just want to fire me, it wants to fire the nation, it wants to fire........

© The Times of Israel