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Racist Israel group tries to block Arabs from running for Knesset

Arab Joint List responds to effort to disqualify the Arab Joint List from running in the Sept. 17, 2019 Israeli elections: “Election disqualification request filed by ‘Jewish Power’ party against us is racist”

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel issued a response today, Tuesday, 13 August 2019, to the request filed by Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir and the Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) party to the Central Election Committee (CEC) to disqualify the Arab Joint List from participating in Israel’s upcoming national parliamentary election, calling it motivated by racism.

Adalah filed the response on behalf of the Joint List ahead of tomorrow’s Central Election Committee hearing on requests to disqualify candidates and political parties from the 17 September 2019 national election.

Tomorrow’s hearing will be held at 15:30 at the Knesset.

Israeli Arabs voting in the March 17, 2015 elections

Adalah General Director Attorney Hassan Jabareen wrote in the response that the request to disqualify the Joint List is rooted in racism and is not supported by the Basic Law: Knesset, which governs the disqualification of candidates and party lists.

Most of the evidence included with Ben Gvir’s and the Jewish Power party’s request had already been rejected by the Israeli Supreme Court when it was provided with previous attempts to disqualify the Joint List. The only new evidence is based on misrepresented facts and racist commentary that negate the demand of Arab elected officials for equal citizenship.

The Joint List called on the CEC to reject Ben Gvir’s and the Jewish Power’s disqualification request and to order them liable for court expenses.

Joint List Chairman MK Ayman Odeh added:

“There is no other way to say it: This is a request to disqualify the political representation of all Arab citizens. This racist move will be discussed tomorrow by the CEC, a political body some of whose party members promote campaigns of incitement and hate on a daily basis. I recommend that those voting in favor of this anti-democratic disqualification request do so by calling out ‘Kahane Was Right’.”

CLICK HERE to read the Joint List’s response filed by Adalah[Hebrew]

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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