"Israeli" Court Overturns Ban over Zoabi

Local Editor

The so-called "Israeli" Supreme Court overturned on Sunday a decision by the Central Elections Committee banning Arab Member of Knesset [MK] Haneen Zoabi from standing in next month's snap general election.
"Following a hearing on 27/12/2012, it was decided unanimously to reject the Central Elections Committee's decision... to prevent representative Haneen Zoabi from standing for elections for the 19th Knesset," a summary of the court's decision said.

The summary, which was released ahead of the full decision later on Sunday, did not explain why the court was overturning the committee's decision, but confirmed that Zoabi, a member of the left-wing Balad party, would be able to stand in the January 22 vote.

The disqualification by the Central Elections committee had come "in the context of an increasingly hostile climate towards the Arabs."
The vote was "anti-democratic and illegitimate," according to Zoabi, and Balad said that "the move was a continuation of the policies enacted over the last four years by the Netanyahu-Lieberman government, including the creation of 20 discriminatory laws against Arabs living inside the Green line [1948 occupied territories] and their elected representatives."

"I welcome the Supreme Court's decision. This is what I expected," she said. "I don't regret having participated in the Mavi Marmara (flotilla). I know what I did."
Calling the decision a form of political revenge that reflected the tyranny of the "Israeli" majority, Zoabi said, "No one will determine for the Arabs who represents it other than Arab citizens themselves...I was elected to represent my people and, through their support, I have a legitimacy that the committee cannot take from me."

A firebrand critic of the "Israeli" governments' racism, Zoabi regularly tangled with right-wing members of the Knesset, who sought to disqualify her from running in the next election.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org