Shas chairman Minister Aryeh Deri told his faction members that even if the court decides that he should resign, he will not comply, and will pass the decision on to the Prime Minister.
"Fire me or not - it's Netanyahu's business.=," Deri said.
Netanyahu has so far not explicitly answered whether he would fire Deri if the court rules that Deri cannot serve as a minister given his conviction for tax offenses a year ago.
Channel 13 News reported that Deri's refusal to comply with a Supreme Court order would cause an unprecedented conflict if the government does not fire him, leading to possible contempt of court charges.
The Supreme Court has been considering the petitions against Deri's appointment as a minister for two weeks, with a verdict expected in the coming days.
The scenario which is considered the least likely is for the court to dismiss all petitions against Deri's appointment and allow him to serve as both Interior and Health Minister.
The second possible scenario is that the court accepts the position of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara that Deri's appointment should be annulled, but the petitions for the court to strike down the law the government passed to allow Deri to serve as a minister be dismissed.
The third scenario is that the court does not rule on the reasonableness of Deri's appointment, but leaves the issue open. In such a situation the chairman of Shas can contact the chairman of the election committee on the question of moral turpitude and convince him to support his position.