
© Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Michael Ben-Ari (center) and members of the Jewish Power Party.
The Israeli High Court has
ruled yesterday on several petitions regarding the upcoming elections. Taking the recommended position of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, the court reversed the Knesset Elections Committee decision to ban the Palestinian-Israeli party union of Balad-United Arab List; to reverse the ban on Jewish Ofer Cassif who is part of Hadash (Hadash-Ta'al is another dual Palestinian-Israeli union); and finally, to ban the leader of Jewish Power Michael Ben Ari from running - Ben Ari was otherwise approved by the committee.
The merger of the rabbi Kahane disciples of Jewish Power with the Jewish Home party was a move orchestrated by Netanyahu, which drew widespread critique, as the Jewish Power is an extension of the Kahanist Kach party, which was
banned from the Knesset in 1988 on grounds of racism. Netanyahu thus offered it political legitimacy, also in order to secure a future coalition and not lose votes under the 3.25% threshold.
The permitting of the Balad-UAL to run actually follows a familiar pattern - where
these parties are banned by the Knesset Elections Committee on the basis of their advocacy for a state of all its citizens, and the ban is rescinded by the High Court.
The Elections Committee bars them for violating the "Jewish and Democratic" clause of the Knesset party law, and then the High Court reverses it, citing a more liberal interpretation of the law (I will elaborate on this further down).
Nonetheless, the decision to bar an individual, rather than a whole party, sets a new precedent in Israeli election history.
Comment: For the background on why Israeli politics is so entho-centric, check out the following episodes of the Truth Perspective: