Electoral body bans Arab candidates, OKs extreme Right

A decision by Israel’s electoral committee to ban two Arab parties and a candidate from a third Arab-led slate from running in elections, while allowing a far-Right candidate despite recommendations from the attorney-general to ban him, was sharply criticised yesterday by leaders of Israel’s Arab community.

The ruling has been called unreasonable and racist, and has sparked fears among Israeli Arabs that the country’s 1.8 million Arab citizens could be further politically marginalised ahead of April 9 parliamentary elections.

The decision to ban the parties, which are running on a united ticket, and the candidate, Ofer Cassif, followed petitions submitted by three Rightwing factions, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party.

The two parties and Cassif now plan to appeal to the Supreme Court next week, and a panel of nine judges will make a final ruling on whether they can run in elections for the parliament, called the Knesset.

In a hearing on Thursday of the Central Elections Committee, it was argued that the two parties, Balad and the United Arab List, as well as Cassif – a politics professor, and the only Jewish candidate for the Arabmajority Hadash party – had either expressed views supporting terror or rejected Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

‘‘Those who support terrorism will not be in the Israeli Knesset!’’ Netanyahu said in a statement.

Parties and individuals can be disqualified if they reject Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incite racism, or express support for an enemy state or for terrorist organisations.

Hanin Zoabi, an outgoing parliamentarian for Balad, faced such petitions in the past for expressing support for Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, and for calling Israeli soldiers murderers.

But Adalah, a legal centre advocating for Arab minority rights in Israel, said the bans were politically motivated, ‘‘reflecting the McCarthyist persecution of those whose views are not acceptable to Israel’s political Right’’.

Hassan Jabareen, the group’s general director, said there had long been attempts to disqualify Arab candidates, but this was the first time a Jewish candidate had been banned for holding Leftwing views.

He said this was due to a deal struck recently between Netanyahu and the farRight Otzma Yehudit party, and because of a nationalistic nation-state law – which declared Israel a national homeland for Jews, and prioritised Jewish-only communities – passed last year.

Arab citizens constitute about 20 per cent of Israel’s population. Since the country was founded in 1948, Arabs have been encouraged to run for political office, and in the most recent election, an amalgamation of four Arab-led parties known as the Joint List became the third-largest faction in the Knesset.

But that arrangement broke down, leading to two separate slates. The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) joined with the Arab Movement for Renewal (Ta’al), and the National Democratic Assembly (Balad) joined with the United Arab List (Ra’am).

Some Arab politicians are worried that the electoral committee’s decision will further sideline Arab citizens and discourage them from going to the polls.

‘‘Those who support terrorism will not be in the Israeli Knesset!’’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu