The Central Election Committee, led by Supreme Court Justice Uzi Fogelman, dealt a blow to the Labor party on Wednesday by banning its Arab candidate, Ibtisam Mara'ana, from vying in the March 23 election.
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Mara'ana, an Arab Israeli filmmaker from Jaffa, has previously made highly controversial anti-Zionist statements. She has also faced criticism for slamming the IDF, and over her public refusal to observe the two-minute siren on Memorial Day – for which she later apologized on social media.
Her nomination on the seventh slot on Labor's Knesset list sparked a public uproar, prompting the far-right Otzma Yehudit party to petition the Central Elections Committee to have her disqualified.
The committee has, in the past, banned Otzma Yehudit members Baruch Marzel and Bentzi Gopstein from vying in parliamentary elections over their radical political views.
Wednesday's ruling was carried in a vote of 16:15. Under Israeli law, this disqualification has to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, which tends to overturn such decisions.
Labor leader Merav Michaeli slammed the Likud and Shas MKs serving on the Central Elections Committee for "voting for [Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar] Ben-Gvir and against democracy."
The two United Torah Judaism MKs serving on the committee abstained.
Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit opposed banning Mara'ana from the elections, saying that while she had "made public statements against Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic country" evidence against her for incitement to violence and supporting terrorism – benchmark criteria for disqualifying an individual from running for public office – fell short of reaching "critical mass."
She "also expressed sincere remorse for her statements," he noted.
Otzma Yehudit lambasted Mendelblit over his position, saying that once elected, "we will make sure to put an end to the reign of jurists over the justice system. We will make sure the judiciary once again has a Jewish and Zionist agenda."
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