Power to Israel party ordered to cease racist campaign
Elections committee rules posters featuring Arabic text are discriminatory and offensive to Arab minority
The Central Elections Committee ordered far-right political party Power to Israel to cease publishing campaign material the committee deemed as racist.
The committee’s chairman, Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, issued a court injunction Wednesday banning the use of campaign posters that feature Arabic text accompanied with the slogan “Because without duties, there are no rights,” ruling that the posters seek to offend and humiliate the entire Arab population.
Complaints about the campaign were filed by a group of left-wing activists led by former Meretz MK Mossi Raz.
In his ruling Rubinstein wrote that the posters sought to present the Arab public at large as disloyal to the state and would “with a great degree of certainty offend members of the Arab population.
“This racist rhetoric may also offend Jews, who to this day continue to be racially targeted all over the world. We Jews have been discriminated against as a minority throughout our history and therefore the prevention of even a hint of racism against the minority living among us, should be part of our genetic makeup,” wrote Rubinstein in his ruling.
Party leaders MK’s Michael Ben Ari and Aryeh Eldad expressed their dissatisfaction with Rubinstein’s decision and claimed that the campaign’s message lies within the boundaries of freedom of expression.
“It is impossible that the use of one of the official languages should be considered racist. Demanding everyone to adhere to civil duties in return for rights is a legitimate request in a proper country, and we intend to appeal to court,” they said in a statement.
