Liberman: Allowing Zoabi to run a ‘disgrace to democracy’

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling to reinstate controversial MK Hanin Zoabi of the Joint (Arab) List a “disgrace to Israeli democracy, which does not know how to defend itself,” as right-wing lawmakers lined up to lambaste the decision.

Two days after an appeals hearing, eight of the court’s nine justices voted to overturn a decision to disqualify Zoabi and Baruch Marzel of the far-right Yachad party from participating in the upcoming general elections.

Anyone “with a pair of eyes knows that Zoabi violated the law which bars those supporting terror and the armed struggle against Israel, or those denying the existence of the state of Israel as a Jewish state, from serving in its parliament,” the foreign minister said of the decision.

Last week, Zoabi and Marzel were barred by the Central Elections Committee from participating in the March 17 elections for allegedly violating Israeli election law, because of the extremist views held by both candidates – Marzel for alleged anti-Arab racism and Zoabi for alleged support for Hamas and opposition to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.

Zoabi hailed Wednesday’s ruling and said she was relieved that the court “viewed my comments and actions to be within the bounds of the law of free expression.” The firebrand MK, known for anti-Zionist statements, said the ruling “exposed the enormous gap between statements attributed to me and what I actually said.”

According to her attorneys, her disqualification had been based on misattributed and inaccurately quoted statements.

Likud MK Danny Danon, one of the lawmakers who petitioned for Zoabi to be disqualified, vowed to work to change the legislation that allows the “enemies of Israel” from becoming lawmakers. “Those who lead the wave of incitement against the state cannot be a member of the Knesset,” he said.

A statement released by the Joint List praised the Supreme Court’s decision as a step towards fighting anti-Arab discrimination.

“This isn’t the first time politicians have tried to disqualify Arab MKs because of racism and political motives. We are aware that the inflammatory atmosphere is what creates for MK Zoabi an image that is far from reality. With that, we recognize that our political struggle is outside the boundaries of the consensus, and even challenges it, and we view this as our natural democratic right,” the statement said.

Zoabi’s attorney Hassan Jibran said the ruling highlighted the “inflammatory and racist discourse” of the elections committee, which he said was causing “enormous damage to the Arab parties and seriously damages the basic rights of Arab citizens.”

Jibran said the Supreme Court’s repeated overruling of the committee’s decisions indicated the misguided considerations the committee used to make decisions.

Zoabi was also disqualified by the Central Elections Committee in 2013, but that decision too was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Likud MK Yariv Levin said allowing Zoabi to run gave “legitimacy to terrorism,” and called for a fundamental change in the selection process of Supreme Court justices, to ensure that “those on the bench will be people who are committed to Israel and Zionist values.”

“The ruling indicates a total separation between the elitist, radical left that controls the legal system, and the fundamental values shared by those who support Israel,” he said, according to a report in the Hebrew Ynet News.

Yisrael Beytenu candidate Sharon Gal also came out strongly against the Supreme Court ruling.

“Unfortunately, the court gave a green light to the continued incitement by Hanin Zoabi,” Gal said in a statement. “Now there is a legal stamp of approval for her strong statements and radical behavior against the state of Israel and the IDF,” he said. “Too bad that this is the message to all the supporters of terrorism and collaborators with terrorism and inciters.”

Marzel, who posted “We won!” on his Facebook page in response to the court ruling, later praised the decision and said it proved he was not racist.

Marzel, whose fourth spot on the newly formed Yachad party will see him voted into the Knesset, according to recent polls, has led marches of far-right activists through Arab towns and was affiliated with the banned Kach party, founded by the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane.

“Anyone who thinks Zoabi is okay, should vote for her, and anyone who believes in the Torah of Israel should vote for us,” Marzel said before joking that he needed to send flowers for all the free publicity he received.

Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, who represented Marzel, called the ruling “half right,” and harshly criticized the court’s decision to reinstate Zoabi. “There is no doubt that Zoabi should have been disqualified; there is no comparing her to Marzel, who loves Israel,” he said. “The evidence against the terrorist was strong and conclusively proved,” he added.

The court did not announce the reasoning behind the ruling and said a full decision would be released later this month.

Marissa Newman contributed to this report.