Far-rightists cleared for Israel election, Arab party blocked (Jew Hate Alert)

Reuters ^ | MARCH 7, 2019 / 1:53 AM | Dan Willliams

[keat]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s election board has approved far-right Jewish candidates accused by rivals of racism for next month’s election while disqualifying an Arab party that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said supported terrorism.

The Central Elections Committee’s decisions, taken late on Wednesday, were unlikely to be implemented before court appeals, but stoked an already acrimonious race for the April 9 vote.

The elections committee, made up of members of the outgoing parliament, struck down motions that had sought to bar as racist Jewish Power’s Michael Ben-Ari and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who are adherents of late anti-Arab rabbi Meir Kahane.

“Those who support terrorism will not be in the Israeli Knesset!” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

Balad describes itself as a democratic movement opposed to Zionism and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

Netanyahu is battling for political survival after Israel’s attorney-general said last week he plans to indict him in three corruption cases. He denies wrongdoing.

His alliance has brought rare censure from the U.S. pro-Israel lobby and normally staunch Netanyahu backer AIPAC, which called Jewish Power a “racist and reprehensible party.”

Opinion polls predict a second-place finish for Likud, with 30 parliamentary seats compared with 35 for a new party, the centrist Blue and White led by former armed forces chief Benny Gantz. But the surveys said it was still unclear which party would be able to put together a governing coalition.

[keat]

Seems like nothing but a way to, I don't know, preserve peace and freedom in your country. Might not be a bad thing for us to consider here when you think of a couple of the vermin that just got elected to congress.

[sauropod]

Won’t happen.

There’s too much ignorance amongst the sometimes-voting public. Banning certain parties from participating in an election would get their knickers in a twist.

[gibsonguy]

Is this a split the vote scheme?