After the Election Commission disqualified the candidacy of Abtissam Maraana, No. 7 at work, the High Court discusses whether to reverse the decision • Activists: "Not to support those who have harmed Rabin's way"
Will the High Court return its candidacy to the Knesset? No. 7 in Labor Abtisam Maraana in court hearing
Photo:
Oren Ben Hakon
The High Court is currently debating (Wednesday) whether to return the candidacy of Abtisam Maraana-Menuhin, No. 7 on the Labor list, for the elections to the 24th Knesset - after the Central Election Commission decided a week ago to disqualify her candidacy by a majority of 16 against 15 opponents. The disqualification, the issue went to the decision of the Supreme Court automatically, which as stated discusses the matter in a panel of nine judges.
The disqualification applications were submitted by the "Jewish Power" list and Maozia Segal, who was seriously injured among the Chinese farm.
"If we had replaced Mara'a with Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, Baruch Marzel or Benzi Gupstein (members of Jewish Power) - they would have had no chance," said Itamar Ben Gvir, chairman of Jewish Power.
"The things she says deny the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and constitute support for terrorism."
The judges argued that Ben Gvir's application did not seek a ground for disqualification for racism, and Advocate Ben Gvir referred them to a section in the application stating that Mara'a's disqualification was also sought on the basis of incitement to racism: "Nowhere has Mara'a or her lawyers argued that The things attributed to her have not been said. "
Advocate Ben Gvir added: "In her response to the election committee, they claimed that 'there was an interview in which she apologized,' and the video was not attached.
I went to watch the video myself - and for the statements we made here, she did not apologize.
In an interview in which she called for the destruction of Zichron Yaacov, and she asked to correct the article.
But who did she ask to be censored?
Criticism she expressed about Arab society.
Not what she said about Zichron Yaacov. "
It should be noted that the Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, expressed his opposition to the disqualification of Mara'ana.
In a comprehensive opinion delivered to the Election Commission in response to the disqualification demand, Mandelblit explained that Maraana "has in recent years spoken out publicly against the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incited racism and even incited violence and supported terrorist organizations and terrorist operatives against Israel."
However, Mandelblit noted that in view of the Supreme Court's ruling regarding the criteria for disqualification of candidates, the limited evidence presented in the two applications for disqualification of her candidacy for the Knesset "for the most part does not establish any of the three grounds for disqualification - does not establish an evidentiary basis. "A 'critical critical mass' of unequivocal, clear and convincing evidence has accumulated in relation to at least one of the three grounds for disqualification, which according to the Supreme Court's ruling is in order to disqualify a candidate from running in the Knesset elections."
The ombudsman further mentioned that in her response, Mara'a said that she "regrets the way and the way things were written and this is not a statement in silence.
No and no, she appeared on Saturday night for an interview on Channel 12 News in which she uncompromisingly explained her position, according to which these are statements from the past that do not represent her today and that in retrospect she would have styled things differently.
The respondent stated that this was a 'poor' statement, in any case, and in particular she expressed sincere remorse for the content of the matters to anyone who was harmed by them. "
Meanwhile, the "Four in November" circle in the Labor Party sent a letter to the Labor chairman, Merav Michaeli, on Tuesday, requesting that it not defend the Supreme Court's candidacy from Mara'a.
As you may recall, the extremist posts raised by Mara'a in the past, in which she wrote blatant remarks against IDF soldiers, expressed support for a terrorist operative and expressed indignantly towards Holocaust survivors, led to harsh criticism of her and her rejection by the Election Commission.
A new post circulated on the Internet presents her response regarding Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Sadeh and Yigal Alon: "This is a file of a Zionist gang that continues to occupy, settle and purge the Palestinian people from their land to this day. Moral, religious and racist. "
The "Fourth of November" circle in the party was established in 1992 under the name "99" and operated with the consent of Yitzhak Rabin.
Its purpose is to advance Rabin's views and ideas.
After the assassination in 1995, the name was changed to "November 4," the day Rabin was assassinated.
The letter, which was received by "Israel Today" and is intended for Michaeli, states that the "Secretariat of the Fourth of November" is calling on you and asking not to defend the candidacy of Mrs. Abtsam Maraan in the High Court.
The circle cannot support the candidacy of a woman who has repeatedly violated the values and path of the late Yitzhak Rabin.
"We believe that Mrs Abbatsam's candidacy for Ra'ana will damage the party's image, both among party members and the general public, and will even hurt the party's chances of success ahead of the upcoming elections."