Lapid won’t accept Likud proposal not to seek disqualification of controversial parties

Blue and White’s Yair Lapid said earlier this morning he would oppose a Likud-led initiative to refrain from requesting the disqualification of political parties ahead of the next election.

MK David Bitan has said he will seek an agreement from all parties not to attempt to ban any party from running for the Knesset, reasoning that such challenges were already heard (and rejected) ahead of the April elections.

But Lapid told Kan Bet radio he will not sign on to such a proposal, claiming it was an attempt to legitimize “the devotees of Baruch Goldstein,” referring to the far-right Otzma Yehudit party.

Otzma Yehudit’s Itamar Ben Gvir speaks to reporters at the Knesset before his far-right party submits its electoral slate to the Central Elections Committee on August 1, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

“This group and the group at Balad should not be in the Knesset,” he says, in reference to the controversial Arab party that is part of the Joint (Arab) List.

Lapid did not say whether Blue and White would once again petition for the parties to be banned.