The Israeli electoral commission on Wednesday invalidated the candidacy of an Arab deputy in the legislative elections of March 2, accusing him of supporting "terrorism". The candidacy of Heba Yazbak, who sits in parliament on the "United List" of Israeli Arab parties united since the April 2019 elections, was invalidated by 28 votes, including those of Labor Party deputies, against seven votes.
The decisions of the electoral commission, made up of a judge and party representatives in proportion to their number of seats in Parliament, can be challenged before the Supreme Court. Heba Yazbak said that she would appeal the decision. The action against her was initiated by Likoud, the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and by Israel Beiteinou, the nationalist party of former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Often overturned decisions
These two parties are calling for the disqualification of parties which contest the Jewish character of the State of Israel or which support any armed opposition to the Hebrew State. Member of the Arab nationalist Balad party, Heba Yazbak was notably accused of supporting a figure in Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah, Samir Kantar, who had served a life sentence in Israel for the murder of Israelis in 1979, before being released in 2008.
"The electoral commission is politicized and I am not surprised by its decision," commented the elected official. "I never called to use violence or glorify violent acts," added Heba Yazbak in a Hebrew statement. The electoral commission regularly invalidates candidates, but most of the time these decisions are rejected by the Supreme Court.
Two members of an extreme right-wing “Jewish Force” party, considered racist, were banned by the Supreme Court from running in the September 17 legislative elections. The March elections are the third in less than a year in the Hebrew state. After the early elections in April and September, neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his rival the centrist Benny Gantz, of the “Bleu-Blanc” party, managed to rally 61 deputies, threshold of the parliamentary majority to form a government .
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