Mandelblit opposes banning Labor candidate from running in election

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit issues an opinion against banning the candidacy of an Arab Labor party candidate who has made controversial past statements.

The Central Elections Committee is set to consider a petition to bar Labor’s no. 7 candidate Ibtisam Mara’ana from running, over past insensitive comments about Holocaust remembrance and other statements her critics have claimed undermine Israel’s Jewish and Zionist character.

Director Ibtisam Mara’ana-Menuhin at a screening of a 2017 documentary film which she produced (courtesy)

Mandelblit says that after reviewing Mara’ana’s statements, some of which she has apologized for, he does not believe they pass the threshold determined by the law to justify preventing her from running.