Arab MK clear to run in poll
There was anger in Israel’s front-running party Likud-Beitenu this week, after the Supreme Court overturned a decision to disqualify a controversial Arab MK from the January 22 election. The Central Elections Committee had ruled that Hanin Zoabi (pictured), who took part in the 2010 flotilla which tried to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, could not run for a further term in Knesset.
There was anger in Israel’s front-running party Likud-Beitenu this week, after the Supreme Court overturned a decision to disqualify a controversial Arab MK from the January 22 election. The Central Elections Committee had ruled that Hanin Zoabi (pictured), who took part in the 2010 flotilla which tried to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, could not run for a further term in Knesset.
Ofir Akunis, a politician from the ruling Likud party, prompted the committee’s decision by petitioning that Zoabi’s participation undermined the state and its institutions. Her disqualification was widely welcomed in Likud and its running partner Yisrael Beitenu.
However, on Sunday the Supreme Court undermined the ban, and said that Zoabi must be permitted to run. “In light of the Supreme Court interpretation, it is clear that the existing law has to change and to state unequivocally that any expression of support for terrorism should prevent people from entering the Israeli Knesset,” Likud-Beitenu responded in a statement, referring to claims that volunteers aboard the Mavi Marmara had links with terrorist groups.
The Israeli right has long resented what it regards as the Supreme Court’s interference in political matters, claiming that it oversteps the boundaries of its authority. “The ruling was a continuation of a troubling trend, where the Supreme Court overturns decisions made democratically by the only true representatives of the Israeli people, the Knesset,” Likud MP Danny Danon commented to The AJN. “Zoabi’s actions and statements should have left no doubt about the legality of her disqualification. In the next Knesset I plan on passing a ‘Zoabi Law’, which will close any existing loopholes and ensure that Zoabi’s political career comes to a speedy end.”
Zoabi, who represents the Arab-run National Democratic Assembly party, claimed in a statement: “The court’s decision proves that the attempts to have me disqualified were the result of political and personal persecution against me, against my party, and against the Arab public as a whole.”
She went on to say: “We won’t allow anyone – in or outside of the Knesset – to decide the Arab public’s position or limit our political aspirations. We will continue fighting against racism … we will continue to dutifully represent the Arab public.”
NATHAN JEFFAY
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