Israel Bans Arab Parties From Coming Election

JERUSALEM — Israel on Monday banned Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary elections, drawing accusations of racism by an Arab lawmaker who said he would challenge the decision in the country's Supreme Court.

The ruling by parliament's Central Election Committee reflected the heightened tensions between Israel's Jewish majority and Arab minority caused by Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. Arabs have held a series of demonstrations against the offensive.

Parliament spokesman Giora Pordes said the election committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the motion, accusing the country's Arab parties of incitement, supporting terrorist groups and refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist. Arab lawmakers have traveled to some of Israel's staunchest enemies, including Lebanon and Syria.

The 37-member committee is composed of representatives from Israel's major political parties. The measure was proposed by two ultranationalist parties but received widespread support.

The decision does not affect Arab lawmakers in predominantly Jewish parties or the country's communist party, which has a mixed list of Arab and Jewish candidates. Roughly one-fifth of Israel's 7 million citizens are Arabs. Israeli Arabs enjoy full citizenship rights, but have suffered from discrimination and poverty for decades.

Arab lawmakers Ahmed Tibi and Jamal Zahalka, political rivals who head the two Arab blocs in parliament, joined together in condemning Monday's decision.

"It was a political trial led by a group of Fascists and racists who are willing to see the Knesset without Arabs and want to see the country without Arabs," said Tibi.

Together, the Arab lists hold seven of the 120 seats in the Knesset, or parliament.

Tibi said he would appeal to the high court, while Zahalka said his party was still deciding how to proceed.

Pordes, the parliament spokesman, said the last party to be banned was the late Rabbi Meir Kahane's Kach Party, a list from the 1980s that advocated the expulsion of Arabs from Israel.

Comments

[bbrecht]

It's time to stop thinking of Israel as a democracy and start calling it what it is a theocracy. Fraught with the same problems as any theocracy. They do not have a constitution either.

[delayfx]

They don't have a single constitutional document. They do have a set of basic laws with constitutional status (the Basic Laws), which cover the same ground as constitutions tend to (basic principles, principles of operation) and occupy the same status (principles which hold a higher status than statutory and common law).

The fact that the basic laws don't form a single document is more or less irrelevant; while their constituting laws don't provide full coverage, they provide arguably adequate coverage. (There is some work in progress on consolidation of the basic laws into a single constitutional document, but, it's in progress. Getting the wording right is important, as American jurisprudence has shown.)

For example, a relevant Basic Law, as amended in 1985:

7A. A candidates' list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:

(1) negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people;

(2) negation of the democratic character of the State;

(3) incitement to racism.

[jwcmass]

I think it's time for Israel to have a reality check-- and it's finally coming to a head (Israel has been avoiding it for years, all the while saying "Look at well our we treat our Arab citizens."-- is this-- Number 1 above is a direct contradiction to number 2 and 3.

How can you have a state that is Jewish by LAW-- thus by LAW placing Arabs in 2nd class status,

AND AT THE SAME TIME claim to be NON-RASCIST (or to be more precise, non-ethnic) and democratic?


It would be like having in the Constitution of the US (my country) that America would beA ) a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Country
B) a democracy
C) a non-rascist country

All political parties would have to recognize this.

As you can see, it looks absurd on the face of it. Ironically, the closest "tenet" we had in our ORIGINAL Constitution was A--because only white propertied males could vote, and we certainly NOT a democracy (our Founders considered democracy to be little more than "mob rule")

Now I'm not going to tell Israel how to govern itself (although depending on their choice, i may tell them to do it without my tax dollars) but at least be consistent--

Are you a Jewish state, where Arabs are second class citizens (we're not even talking about Paleestinians under occupation here)?

Or are you a democracy where EVERYONE is equal under the law?

Sorry, you cannot be both

[Palemoon]

Jimmy Carter is vindicated at last. There is no doubt at all now, that there is apartheid systems in place. And that's why the Is's would never accept a 2 state solution, because in the words of Ben Gurion, it would have made the Arabs have too big a minority of around 40% in the country. And they can't have that!

[Macready]

well said Palemoon . . . israel is an apartheid state . . . a two-state solution is unworkable . . .

israel is a police state run by and for the zionists . . .

[jwcmass]

Actually, while Jimmy Carter is correct-- he was (in the book you are referring to ) writing about the Occupied Terrotories.

This is, in many ways, worse, because it applies in Israel proper, wherre supposedly Israeli Arabs(as opposed to Palestinians under occupation) are supposed to be EQUAL CITIZENS with the full rights of any Israeli.

What isn't mentioned here is Avigdor Lieberman's "loyalty oath" which he wants to enact, which would require ALL citizens (ARAB OR JEW OR ANY OTHER MINORITY) to swear an oath to ISrael AS A JEWISH STATE (recognizing it's flag and other Jewish symbols)

It would also require Arabs to be drafted in the Army (or other National Service) or lose their rights as Citizens (they would simply have "residency" -like a foreign national-- Imagine being treated as a foreigner in your own land.

What's important to note here is that at Israel's founding, it was decided that its Arab citizens would not be drafted into the Army , because they didn't want to put them in the position of "having to fight their brother Arabs"


It should also be noted that many ultra-orthodox Israelis are exampted from military service--all one needs to do is study in a yeshiva.

So if this perverse bill were to become law, you would have many Jewish setters exempted (many settlers are very reilgious), but Israeli Arabs would be required to serve in the Israeli military as occupiers against their fellow Palestinians.

[goldcoastsailor]

At least Hamas was elected

[balrog221]

Ghettos, Reservations, Refugee Camps... You name it. It all boils down to pissed off people who either want to break out or don't care if they die.

[Mollabaji]

"israeli arabs enjoy full citizehship rights but have suffered from discrimintion and poverty for decades".

well, now the "full citizenship right" of political parties participating in elections is also denied them. This is the true face of the Israeli "democracy" propaganda. Racism at its height, worse thatn South African apartheid.

[balrog221]

apartheid theocracy under the thin veil of secular democracy.

[WorldBetter]

It's incorrect that the arab lists hold 120 seats. They hold 7 seats out of 120 seats in total.

Bad journalism!

[jwcmass]

Therticle does have it correct It spells out "seven" while giving the number "120" --which may have led to the confusion.

[mtracy9]

"Israel does not permit Palestinians who marry Israeli citizens to become citizens themselves, and does not give these spouses the right to live in Israel. The Israeli human rights organization B'tselem called this restriction 'a racist law that determines who can live here according to racist criteria.' Such laws may be understandable given Israel's founding principles, but they are not consistent with America's image of democracy."
--John F. Kennedy School of Government, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

[GBO]

It was a joke!!!!

They got you!

How can you guyz believe such a thing can happen in the model of democracy to surrounding A r a b nations??

[algebragirl]

Israelis, you must be so proud! What a democracy, huh?

[jsarets]

Israel's implementation of democracy is no better or worse than America's, but different.

Our electoral system, called single-member district plurality, effectively imposes a two-party system where candidates not backed by the dominant parties have incredibly long odds of winning elections, even on the local level. We don't ban "undesirable" political parties, we just marginalize them.

Israel's electoral system is based on closed party-list proportional representation. The electorate doesn't vote for candidates, they vote for a party list which seats candidates in a fixed order decided by the parties. The larger the party's share of the vote, the further down the list the candidates are seated.

So in Israel's system, a fringe party can put its most incendiary personality on the top of its party list and seat him so long as they can get enough votes for the party to secure one seat. In contrast to our system, there's no spoiler effect, so fringe parties don't worry about their base evaporating on election day.

Here in America, the gravitational pull of conventional wisdom is built right into the electoral system. But in the Israeli system, "troublemakers" can easily gain a political soapbox unless their parties are excluded from the ballot. It's just a less subtle means of suppressing voter preference.

[rosiebond007]

Marginalizing a party is the same as banning them !

[jwcmass]

One thing I would include with your excellent analysis is that in America, what usually happens is tha if a strong third party emerges (such as the Poulist Party or the Progressive Party) they may not get much headway electorally, but their IDEAS often get incorporated into the platforms of one of the two major parties.

Those ideas may get moderated or watered down, but this is essentially the same thing as what would happen in Israel with a coalition agreement between a major party and a minr party.

So while the US may marginalize the PARTY --the parties' planks often get incorporated into the major parties in one form or another.

The phenomenon that may be unique to Israel is lots of tiny paties being formed around popular figures (usually retired generals). They rarely get more than a handful (5-6) seats, and when the leader leaves politics, the party usually fades away.

[LogicCircuit]

The quote isn't "... supporting terrorist groups and refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist."

It's not an exact translation from Hebrew (the origin of this news item).
The more accurate translation would be , that the Arab parties are accused of supporting terrorist groups and refusing to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish country.

The two translations are hardly the same. And it only natural for an Arab politician to be against a clearly racist definition of the country he lives in.

[AdamWykle]

When it is listed as a democracy it should be appended that it is a democracy for Jews only. Jews have more rights and are more preferred in this state.

The only real democracy is Cyprus.

[Fein]

This is really one 'special' kind of democracy!

[chaos4700]

Echoes of Weimar, I dare say.

[FairTalk]

So much for the myth of Israel as a democracy!