Israel's High Court Revokes Election Ban On Arab Parties

Haaretz:

The High Court of Justice on Wednesday revoked a government decision to exclude Israeli-Arab parties from contenting in the national elections next month.

The court issued its decision in response to a petition submitted by Arab politicians against the ban. A spokesman for the Courts Administration said judges overturned the ban in an unanimous vote Wednesday.

Read the whole story: Haaretz

Comments

[delayfx]

06:29 PM on 01/21/2009

I'm going to go ahead and say it: I told you so.

[thruthseeker]

04:43 PM on 01/21/2009

Israel has 23 different parties... From extreme left , to communist Arabs , to right wing fanatics , to religious zealots...How many democracies are in the Arab world .?

Only corrupt, despots Kings and tyrants.

Thats where their Jealousy and hatred comes from..

Israel makes the desert bloom, they dig tunnels..

To each his own.

[Sentientbeing09]

07:36 PM on 01/21/2009

I love your reasoning. Other democratic countries in the world compete with each other to be freer than the next; yet you compare Israel to some of the most restrictive regimes in the world and tell us with gushing pride that there are worse places to live than Israel!

Awesome.

So you agree then, that Israel is a democracy in name only?

[cato1]

03:49 PM on 01/21/2009

the decision means nothing. The whole ideology of Zionism is racist and Arabs in Israel will never be treated as equals. This decision no doubt will be seized by Israeli apologists to defend their so-called legitimate state.

The only true and honest solution is a one-state solution with equal rights for all. Why do Israelis oppose this? Because they still cling to their doctrine that Arabs should remain submissive.

Eventually most Israelis will see the light and Zionism will come to and end, well deserved, in the land of Palestine.

[JacksonJones]

05:46 PM on 01/21/2009

Zionism is not racist at all. It is the (surprisingly controversial among 'progressives') proposition that the Jewish people, like all others, has the right to national self-determination, as set forth in the UN Charter. Nothing racist about it. Nor would I expect jews to abandon that notion.

[Sentientbeing09]

07:39 PM on 01/21/2009

Israel is the only democracy in the world with an ethnicity and racial test for citizenship.

Nice try though!

[Snuffleupagus]

03:17 PM on 01/21/2009

Good move by the high court. Courageous and smart.

[JoeDoorman]

03:15 PM on 01/21/2009

oh, they've lifted the ban, how nice.

[x004Ronin]

02:26 PM on 01/21/2009

Absolutely the right call. If prosecutors have PROOF that members of the Kness.et were involved in violence in any way, those members should be prosecuted, rather than banning an entire party. That's how it works in a democracy. Prove that certain members have committed crimes, then incarcerate them. Don't just put a blanket ban on a party.

[JacksonJones]

05:47 PM on 01/21/2009

Exactly.

[lbsaltzman]

01:58 PM on 01/21/2009

Every now and then a small glimmer of Democracy emerges in Israel. This is such an example. Compared to the criminal devastation the Israelis have just finished unleashing on Palestine the Supreme Court's decision is a trivial, but small step from a country the never seems to behave in a civilized way anymore.

[itsjustanillusion]

03:54 PM on 01/21/2009

Israel behave civil? Only to other Israelis! Obviously.

The US keeps their pockets full and their guns loaded. Why should Israel be civil to anyone. After a while, they will challenge the world. That's after the US gets rid of Iran for them. Their arrogance will catch up with them.

[delayfx]

06:40 PM on 01/21/2009

I have to think the Israeli dedication to education and technology keeps their pockets full, and not the zero dollars worth of civilian aid they received last year. Maybe it's their world-class research (does your computer use an Intel processor? Designed in Israel!) or institutions of learning like the Technion.

Or maybe it really is the zero dollars worth of civilian aid we send them. I can't tell.

[JacksonJones]

06:47 PM on 01/21/2009

Hmmmm....so its the "Israel (read Jews) want to conquer the world" theory is it? Did you dog that up from an old copy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion?

[JacksonJones]

01:29 PM on 01/21/2009

As I predicted, the original decision, made by a small committee of MKs, has been overturned as required by Israeli, showing once again that Israel is a nation of laws. Nevertheless, I doubt that those who wrote scathing condemnations of Israel when the original decision will care to offer any sort of extention or revision to their prior comments.

[stringer]

01:22 PM on 01/21/2009

Excellent decision. One of the most disturbing first moves of this whole Gaza offensive was, to me, when Tzipi Livni out of the blue reversed herself and said that not only should Israel be a Jewish state (fine) but that Israeli Arabs, even those who opposed Hamas, had no place in Israel.

That simply is not right.

Most Arab Israelis are not only as virulently anti-Hamas, if not more so, than Jewish Israelis, but they also form an intricate part of that nation. It would send a MUCH more positive message to the world to include, and elicit their ideas, when moving Israel forward while continuing to promote its security.

Excluding them is not only wrong it's stupid. They can be powerful ambassadors for Israel and help garner support around the region with other Arabs and the world at large.

Excellent decision. One can only hope Livni and other politicans don't try to undermine it again. Include don't exclude Arab Israelis from the process and you'll have a safer and ultimately better nation.

[Manchurian]

05:36 PM on 01/21/2009

No country should make a religion the basis of who gets full rights and who doesn't. It's completely antithetical to what America stands for. In a true democracy, all citizens have equal rights, regardless of religion or ethnicity.

[JacksonJones]

05:43 PM on 01/21/2009

Israel has full equality before the law for all of its citizens regardless of religion, hence the decision of the Court. It has long since been recognized that fundamental rights of members of minorities (or majorities for that matter) should not be subject to the will of the majority, regardless of the results of ballot results or the acts of those elected thereby.

[Vivuldi]

06:19 PM on 01/22/2009

stringer,

Either you misinterpreted Livni's statement or you are deliberately distorting her comment. What she stated was that those who are aspiring an "Arab" nationality [here in Israel], their goal and desire should be aimed for another place, not Israel. Her choice of wording was poorly constructed and it could be misinterpreted.

[who38]

01:13 PM on 01/21/2009

It's a start toward democracy. Can't believe that Kahane was barred too.

[JacksonJones]

05:40 PM on 01/21/2009

I am amused by the twin themes of Israel not being a democracy, despite having universal suffrage, minority MKs, political parties opposed to the gov't, the full panoply of western human rights guarantees, etc., and the insistence that Hamas is the "democratically elected gov't" in Gaza, despite its execution and torture of political rivals, Islam-supremacist charter and policy, etc., etc., etc. One wonders at the mental flexibility required to simultaneously maintain these two propositions that one reads on these fora as dogmatic, unimpeachable truths.

[STParker]

12:46 PM on 01/21/2009

Now let's see if the Israeli government pulls another "Andrew Jackson" on the courts.

[papapj]

12:43 PM on 01/21/2009

..Because they HAD to. Anything else would have been patently obvious racism.

[JacksonJones]

04:08 PM on 01/21/2009

I don't think they HAD to, there are LOADS of countries that ban parties for all sorts of reasons, including racism. But Israel chose to take this course of action because it is a free society governed by laws, not petty prejudices.

[itsjustanillusion]

04:18 PM on 01/21/2009

Yeah right.

[vinny]

05:14 PM on 01/21/2009

the basic laws that prescribe a "Jewish democratic state" are inherently racist...