On Sunday, I reported that 'Israeli Arab' MK Basel Ghattas plans to join the flotilla of fools that hopes to run the Gaza 'blockade' later this week and establish a sea route for Hamas weapons.
Senior Likud MK Zeev Elkin says that Ghattas learned that there is no treason that is unacceptable for an 'Israeli Arab' MK from Hanin Zoabi, who joined the Mavi Marmara in 2010, and has not lost her Knesset seat, despite an elections committee decision that she be barred from running.
Now, Zoabi wants to do it again. After all, it just wouldn't be the same without her. But she's not coming along anyway.
The Marianne av Göteborg, is set to depart within the next few days. Three or four other ships have plans to join the Gaza flotilla, but only the Marianne av Göteborg is currently approaching Israel.
Zoabi
penned a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense
Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and made it clear that she wants to join the
flotilla, however she has decided not to do so because she felt that the
last flotilla was not completely effective, stating "unfortunately the Mavi Marmara did not end the blockade in Gaza."
She said that the Mavi Marmara did not succeed 100 percent, and therefore there is a need for more and more flotillas.
Referring
to Israel, Zoabi said there will be "a need to prosecute those
responsible politically and militarily for the situation in Gaza" if the
blockade remains in place.
"Israel is in control of the
situation, and is responsible according to international law. Those in
Israel cannot expect to live a normal life when the occupation and the
siege goes on in Gaza."
Maybe she's afraid her Knesset immunity won't protect her from IDF responses to an act of war.
'Israeli Arab' MK Basel Ghattas has announced that he will join the flotilla of fools attempting to reach Gaza from Greece this week. Ghattas is a member of the 'joint list' of the 'Israeli Arab' Knesset parties.
MK Basel Ghattas from the Joint (Arab) List will join pro-Palestinian
activists on a three-vessel flotilla headed for Gaza’s shores over the
next few days in a bid to break the blockade imposed by Israel and
Egypt.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister
Moshe Ya’alon, Ghattas writes that he intends to be part of the
flotilla and does not fear the consequences of such an act, according to
Ynet.
In the missive, Ghattas reportedly warns Netanyahu and Ya’alon to
instruct security forces to let the flotilla through and not intercept
it lest Israel get involved “in yet another international diplomatic
crisis that you and your government will have been responsible for.”
One for you and one for me: Central Elections Committee bans Zoabi, Marzel
The Central Elections Committee has voted to ban 'Israeli Arab' MK Hanin Zoabi and Rightist candidate Baruch Marzel. The vote to ban Zoabi wasn't even close - 27-6. The vote to ban Marzel was much closer 17-16. Zoabi's ban is likely to be overturned by Israel's Leftist 'Supreme Court.'
Zoabi said following the vote that the High Court would "have its say,"
on the decision. "I did not have high expectations that most of the
members of the Elections Committee would follow the fundamental rules of
democracy that they are bound by. This is a political committee in a
Knesset that has a majority of right-wingers and racists," she said.
"There
is no legitimate, legal basis to disqualify me, as was made clear by
the attorney-general and previous High Court decisions on attempts to
unseat me as a representative of the Arab public," she added.
Foreign
Minister Avigdor Liberman, whose Yisrael Beytenu party initiated the
petition, said after the decision that Zoabi's place was clearly not in
the Knesset, but rather with the "Hamas terrorists in Gaza."
Liberman said he hoped the High Court would not allow a "supporter of terrorists, including those on the Mavi Marmara to run in Knesset elections in the Jewish state."
Central
Election Committee chairman and Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein both
came out against the move, arguing that such disqualifications
undesirably get the High Court involved in the political process.
However, Likud, Bayit Yehudi, Yisrael Beytenu, Shas, Yachad and the
Zionist Union supported disqualifying Zoabi.
Israel's 'Supreme Court' has nothing against terror supporters, and Zoabi is likely to be reinstated.
I'm sure that most of you recall the name of terror supporting MK HaninZoabi. Once again, she's running for the Knesset. And Likud MK Danny Danon has released a video to try to stop her. The video is in Hebrew, but there's a link below with some of it translated into English.
Let's go to the videotape.
Zoabi's Balad party has vowed to file a complaint with the police over Danon's video, calling it incitement. More here.
A Channel 10 news poll shows that 77% of Israeli Arabs would rather live in Israel than in 'Palestine.' (The tweet comes from the AP's Dan Williams in case any of you doubt my translation of the graphic).
'Israeli Arab' MK's Hanin Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka and Ibrahim Sarsur attended a Hamas 'victory rally' in a Galilee village on Friday.
Balad MKs Jamal Zehalka and Haneen Zoabi and United Arab list head Ibrahim Sarsur sang the Palestinian national anthem at a "victory rally" for Hamas that was held Friday in the Kabul Regional Council southeast of Akko.
Palestinian flags draped the event, which was held under the banner "Gaza won." Two thousand people attended the event, which was organized by the Monitoring Committee of the Israeli Arab Leadership. A moment of silence was observed for victims of IDF strikes on Gaza.
Zoabi called upon "the occupier" to do some soul searching following Operation Protective Edge. She referred to the Gazan casualties as the "2000 martyrs who were killed among my people."
"The Palestinian resistance and the entire nation in Gaza defeated the military and political targets Israel set for itself," Zoabi told Ynet. "The struggle of our people prevented [Israel] from achieving its goals and that is the result of the war. Israelis must learn the lesson that no military power can defeat a nation that wants to live."
These people sit in the Knesset! It's long past time for Balad to be banned under the law that bans parties that refuse to accept Israel's Jewish or Democratic nature (the only party ever so banned was Rabbi Meir Kahane's Kach party).
Report: Kerry's friends in Qatar threatened to expel Meshaal if he accepted the cease fire
If we didn't have enough reasons to bar US Secretary John FN Kerry from interfering with our affairs until now, we may have a huge one. As you might recall, Kerry pushed to replace Egypt with Qatar and Turkey as the intermediaries between Israel and Hamas. Now, it turns out that Qatar may have brought about the resumption of Hamas rocket fire on Israel by threatening Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal with expulsion from the country if he agreed to Egypt's cease fire proposal.
The Fatah source added that Qatar threatened to expel
Qatar-based Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, saying it would "force
him to leave," if Hamas agreed to the Egyptian truce proposal in its current structure.
Indeed Hamas rejected the proposal last week, with Mashaal saying "we want serious negotiations that lead to an end of the aggression on Gaza and granting the Palestinian demands."
The new revelation would appear to lend credence to reports
Tuesday that the breach of the ceasefire was in fact orchestrated by
none other than Mashaal.
An unnamed security source told Walla! the initial rocket
salvo on Be'er Sheva was ordered directly by Mashaal, who reportedly
bypassed Hamas's "military wing", the Al-Qassam Brigades, and ordered a
specially-assigned unit of Hamas operatives answerable directly to him
to launch the attack.
The source claimed Mashaal was aiming to sabotage negotiations for a long-term truce in Cairo, which were not going his way.
A senior Hamas source last week urged a different nation to replace Egypt as intermediary in the talks, labeling Egypt "the basic delaying source preventing an agreement."
Hamas may have envisioned Qatar as the replacement, given that
the source called for a new third-party that would help achieve the
terror group's demands, including terrorists releases and a Gaza sea and
airport.
This also puts a very different - and harsher - light on last week's visit to Qatar by three MK's from the Balad party.
It is worth noting that three Arab-nationalist Balad MKs recently traveled to Qatar,
where they reportedly met the traitor ex-MK Azmi Bishara, who founded
their party before fleeing Israel after passing information to direct
Hezbollah rockets on Israeli citizens.
Kerry, Zoabi and Zahalka should all be exiled together to a desert island. Maybe Bishara would like to join them.
'Zahalka, Zoabi and Bishara met in Qatar. That's not the beginning of a joke. That really happened!'
MK's on Israel's Right are calling for the Balad party to be investigated and banned from the Knesset after MK's Jamal Zahalka, Hanin Zoabi and Bassel Ghattas traveled to Qatar for 'media appearances' and to meet with exiled former Balad party MK Azmi Bishara.
On Sunday, a Balad spokesman said the party's three MKs, Jamal Zahalka, Haneen Zoabi and Bassel Ghattas, went to Qatar for media appearances, though they appeared on the Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera several times from Israel in recent weeks.
The spokesman also did not confirm or deny reports they met with Balad founder Azmi Bishara, who fled from Israel and resigned from the Knesset in 2007 as he was under investigation for giving information to Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War.
[Transportation Minister Yisrael] Katz said that he amended the law to make it illegal for people who support terrorism to run for the Knesset and he had Bishara and Balad banned from running, via the Central Election Committee, but the Supreme Court overturned the vote.
"I am now preparing a new petition against Zoabi and Balad and I hope the Supreme Court won't intervene this time," he added.
Knesset Interior Committee chairwoman Miri Regev (Likud) wrote a letter to Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein asking that he investigate the MKs' visit to Qatar and ban their party.
"It is the right thing to do to investigate MKs Zahalke, Zoabi and Ghattas who traveled to the land of terrorism, especially when we know that all of the terrorism is funded by Qatar's leaders and that the heads of Hamas live in Qatar, where they are defended," Regev wrote.
"There is legal precedent for this in Israel. We cannot forget former MK Bishara, who was a traitor to the state and lived in Qatar, the shelter for terrorists," Regev added.
MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beytenu) said he plans to complain to the Knesset Ethics Committee about the Balad MKs, in order to examine who paid for their trip to Qatar.
On Sunday, the Balad spokesman said the MKs paid for their own trip.
"Three Balad MKs visiting the terrorism sponsor Qatar, which funds Hamas, and their meeting with the fugitive spy Azmi Bishara, is further proof of their activity that is hostile to the State of Israel, which they are supposed to represent," Miller said.
Last month, Zoabi was banned from all Knesset activities except voting for six months after she made statements in support of Hamas.
The only way to stop this behavior is to ban from the Knesset the parties that do it. There's a law on the books that allows the Central Elections Committee to ban parties that don't accept Israel as a 'Jewish and democratic state,' but the only time the Leftist Supreme Court has ever upheld the ban was when it was invoked against Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) and his Kach party, which was claimed to be anti-democratic.
'Israeli Arab' fifth column encouraging Hamas as IDF enters Gaza
Good morning. I want to apologize for disappearing on all of you yesterday. In the afternoon, I had to be in Bnei Brak (where I got caught in a rocket alert driving home). Then I had to go to an engagement party (which started so late that I missed it), then to my Thursday night Torah class, and finally to Ben Gurion Airport to pick up Mrs. Carl, who left for the US the day before I came back, and whom I had not seen in three and a half weeks. I love you all dearly, but Mrs. Carl trumps all of you, has for nearly 33 years, and always will.
As I am sure you all heard, the IDF went into Gaza last night. There was really no choice. The government did all it could to avoid the decision, but Hamas is determined to have a fight with us, and in this region, if you cower, they will attack you and God forbid wipe you out. As of now, we have unfortunately had one casualty (around 4:00 am - no details yet), but the IDF has killed 15 terrorists and destroyed 103 'terror targets,' including some rocket launchers that were buried underground.
In a speech to the nation last night, Prime Minister Netanyahu described the goal of the operation as weakening Hamas to the point that they cannot attack us for a long time. In my opinion, and that of many other Israelis, the situation where we have to go into Gaza every two years or so after an escalation of rocket fire is unacceptable, and we must be able to go about our lives without worrying that the warning siren will go off. That's as true in Sderot as it is in Jerusalem. Therefore, the rocket threat must be eliminated completely, and if that requires eliminating Hamas completely, so be it.
I was told this morning - not reported in the media - that eliminating Hamas will take 8-12 months....
Zoabi encouraged all Arab countries to help stoke a "popular
uprising" against Israel, halt security coordination with the
Palestinian Authority (PA) police in Judea and Samaria, and lay siege to
the region.
Zoabi - who is a member of the Israeli Knesset - also put the world "Israel" in quotation marks for the entire article.
The inflammatory piece also attacks Operation Protective Edge against
Hamas, which seeks to protect her home country against the thousands of
rockets already fired by the terror group on Israeli citizens.
"There is no purpose to the military operation in Gaza," Zoabi
writes. "Israel will in no way eliminate Hamas - neither the motivations
behind the resistance nor the motivation to end the Occupation."
"Israel will in no way accomplish anything by brute military force,
killing, and devastation," she added. "[Israel's] brutal aggression has
no political policy other than fixing the current situation by
continuing a series of crimes and violations against our people - stop
that, and we will stop the rocket fire."
"In order for 'Israel' to declare an end to the possibility of
guarding its Occupation and deepening it, we must end the enemy's
Trinity - the siege, the security cooperation, and the border [. . .] we
must besiege 'Israel' instead of negotiating with it," she concluded.
At least one MK thinks this is the last straw with Zoabi, who first came to prominence as a passenger on the Mavi Marmara terror ship.
Before the last elections, the Central Elections Committee banned Zoabi, under a clause requiring candidates and parties not to work against Israel's character as a Jewish, democratic state.
However, the Supreme Court later overturned the decision and allowed Zoabi to run - a decision Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon lamented in June.
"I was able to reject [Zoabi's] candidacy for the Knesset in the
[Central] Elections Committee, but the Supreme Court overturned the
decision," Danon said. ''This is a fiasco which the Knesset has to
stop."
It's long past time for Zoabi to go. Freedom of speech does not mean one must countenance treason.
Video: A screaming match at the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women
At the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women there was a screaming match Tuesday morning between Committee Chair Aliza Lavi (of the Leftist Yesh Atid party) and MK Hanin Zoabi (United Arab List) who says that those who kidnap Israeli children are not terrorists.
I've written before about Mohammed Zoabi, who is related to 'Israeli Arab' MK Hanin Zoabi, the traitor who was a passenger on the Mavi Marmara. Mohammed, who is a Muslim Zionist, has put out a video in which he calls the 'Palestinian Authority' the biggest terrorist.
“I am happy to see that Israeli hasbara [public diplomacy] is in such a
dire state that it needs a stupid boy with a twisted identity who
feels a continuous need to apologize to his strong masters,” Haneen
Zoabi told Ynet.
“The Israeli desire to highlight this delusional case shows the state’s
need for legitimacy, even if it comes from a questionable direction.”
Citing an incitement campaign being waged against Mohammad Zoabi in the
wake of the video – including by his lawmaker relative – coalition
chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud) wrote a letter to Public Security
Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Likud Beytenu) demanding that he
guarantee the teen’s safety.
Police have arrested three relatives of young Zoabi for threatening him.
MK Hanin Zoabi (United Arab List) argued that the three kidnappers
responsible for the abduction of three teenage yeshiva students are "not
terrorists" on Radio Tel Aviv Tuesday morning, in an inflammatory interview which also saw her denigrate Arab Zionist and distant relative Mohammed Zoabi.
...
MK Zoabi initially denied that she knew the brave teenager well
during Tuesday's radio interview, but then proceeded to insult him based
on what she did know.
"He's from a divorced family," she sniffed. "His mother now lives in Nazareth Illit, where he studies at a Jewish school."
"He's sleazy," she continued. "He's distorted his identity."
Zoabi then claimed that, in her "humble opinion," the kidnappers are not terrorists.
"It is strange that people who are under the Occupation and living
the high life ignore the reality that Israel kidnaps Palestinian Arabs
and jails them every day," she fired.
"They are not terrorists, I do not agree with you! They have seen no
other way to change their reality and they have to resort to these
measures until Israel sobers up a bit and feels the suffering of
others."
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) slammed MK Hanin
Zoabi in a Facebook post Tuesday, after the Israeli Arab MK justified the kidnapping of three yeshiva students by Hamas terrorists.
"Not only are the kidnappers terrorists; Hanin Zoabi is a terrorist," Liberman said.
He called for harsh judgement to be meted upon the MK. "The fate of the kidnappers and the fate of Zoabi, an inciter, should be the same."
...
"Expel her to Gaza and remove her diplomatic immunity," MK Miri Regev
(Likud) stated Tuesday. "This is a betrayal. She identified herself
with terrorists on the Mavi Marmara and now she identifies herself with the Hamas terrorists who kidnapped our three boys."
"I was not surprised to hear this," Regev added, "How can a traitor
like her blame them? She does not belong to us, but to Gaza."
MK Moti Yogev (Jewish Home) argued that Zoabi's statement breaks all
boundaries, and vowed to work diligently to see Zoabi expelled from the
Knesset permanently.
"Her position on the terrorists is closer to them than to us, she
should be with them instead of in the Israeli Knesset," Yogev said.
Don't hold your breath waiting for her to be expelled. It won't happen.
I'm sure you all remember Hanin Zoabi, the 'Israeli Arab' MK from the Balad party, who is famous for, among other things, being a passenger on the Mavi Marmara terror ship and meeting with Hamas. Zoabi has a Muslim relative named Mohamed, who is 16-years old and an ardent Zionist.
MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) responded to Muhammad's pro-Israel Facebook
page and video by saying that “the state of Israel has trained him into
obedience. Sometimes, the oppressed identifies with the oppressor
because he lacks pride and political awareness.”
Muhammad is unfazed by such statements and vows to “stand with the Jewish people until the last day of my life.”
Hanin ought to go live in 'Palestine' for a while. Oh... wait... she couldn't be an MK there, could she?
“I want to tell the US to free Pollard,” Sarsur said. “He has served
too long. But there are 5000 Palestinians in Israeli jails and some are
serving too long too.”
At the conclusion of the Knesset session,
every faction endorsed a resolution calling upon US president Barack
Obama to commute Pollard's sentence to the 28 years he has already
served. The Arab factions endorsed a different version of the resolution
that also calls for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli
jails and opposes conditioning the releases on Pollard's freedom.
The
two resolutions will be sent to Obama via President Shimon Peres and to
the Senate by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. A group of legislators
will deliver the resolutions to US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro.
The
MKs will also deliver a petition for Pollard's freedom. Among MKs from
Jewish factions, the only MKs who have not signed it are three ministers
who deal regularly with the US: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.
Netanyahu
welcomed the effort by the MKs but cautioned them that the need to
bring about Pollard's release was unconnected to the reports of American
spying. He vowed to intensify his efforts to bring Pollard home.
I wonder how many more 'Israeli Arab' MK's signed. Ahmad Tibi? Hanin Zoabi?
Stopping the Supreme Court from backing terrorists
You might recall that during the election campaign, a Central Elections Committee decision to bar Mavi Marmara terrorist MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) from running in the election was overturned by the Supreme Court.
At the time, MK Danny Danon (Likud-Beiteinu) promised to introduce legislation to limit the Supreme Court's ability to overturn Central Election Commission decisions. Dannon has now followed through and introduced the legislation.
The legislation, which Danon nicknamed the “Zoabi Bill,” would not
allow the High Court of Justice to overturn a Central Elections Committee vote
to disqualify a party or MK unless the committee displayed “extreme
unreasonableness.”
In addition, the committee will only be able to
declare an MK or party ineligible with a two-thirds vote, as opposed to a
majority, which is the current rule.
...
“The High Court decided to back the
Marmara terrorist.
The sane, democratic camp has the responsibility to
fix Basic Law: The Knesset and ensure that an MK who chooses to support
terrorist organizations and incite against the State of Israel cannot be elected
again,” Danon said on Wednesday.
Danon expressed hope that his bill will
strengthen democracy, explaining that “democracy and freedom of expression are
important values, but [he intends] to act firmly against those who take
advantage of it to harm Israel.”
The only MK ever disqualified from running for the Knesset was a Right wing Jew (of course), Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D (May God Avenge his blood).
This is my 30,000th post since starting this blog seven years ago next week.
As expected, the Supreme Court on Sunday morning ruled that Balad MK Hanin Zoabi should be allowed to run in the Knesset elections on January 22.
Zoabi was disqualified by the Central Elections Committee last week, in a
19-9 vote, despite Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein recommending that
she be allowed to run. The committee approved the ban on the grounds
that Zoabi supported terrorism and rejected Israel as a Jewish and
democratic state.
Balad chairman Jamal Zahalka had said following the decision last week that if Zoabi is disqualified, Balad would not run.
Likud
responded to the decision, saying it is clear the existing law "has to
change" and state "unequivocally that any expression of support for
terrorism amonst candidates will result in their disqualification from
the Knesset."
MK Yariv Levin said the decision is a "scandal", adding that it exposes Knesset and the IDF to terror.
It is a scandal. At this point, one has to wonder what would happen if the next Knesset (as we can only hope) passes a law intended to circumvent the Supreme Court. The Court would undoubtedly attempt to strike it down. In that case, as President Jackson remarked in 1832, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"
Zoabi confronted in Supreme Court; court ruling to be circumvented?
I should hat tip the anti-Israel Mondoweiss blog for posting the image above, but I don't want to give him the traffic.
For those who don't get it, it's a play on words. MK Zoabi's first name is Hanin and the Hebrew word for a crocodile is tanin....Mondoweiss believes the picture is racist. I don't. I believe that it acknowledges the reality that she is dangerous and sneaky. A snake might have been more appropriate but you would lose the play on words.
Israel's Supreme Court heard arguments on Thursday morning about banning Hanin Zoabi, the MK who was a passenger of the Mavi Marmara (among other disloyal offenses), from running in the upcoming Knesset elections. MK Danny Danon (number 5 on the Likud list), who has been leading the charge against Zoabi, is threatening an 'okef bagatz' for the next time in case Zoabi is allowed to run (Under the Israeli constitutional system, we do not have three coequal branches of government, but the Knesset is supposed to be more coequal than the others. The Knesset can pass a law that circumvents (okef in Hebrew) a Supreme Court decision).
Right-wing Likud-Beytenu MK Danny Danon told The Jerusalem Post Thursdaythat
if the Supreme Court allows Balad MK Haneen Zoabi to run in the
upcoming election, he is prepared with a 'Plan B': amending the law to
prevent future runs.
...
Danon, who led the move to disqualify Zoabi, told the Post that he believes he can win in court, despite the fact that it has never disqualified an Arab MK before.
MK Michael Ben-Ari and his Strong Israel party co-founder Itamar Ben
Gvir joined a group of some 30 right-wing activists attempting to
physically block Balad MK Haneen Zoabi from leaving the High Court of
Justice in Jerusalem on Thursday.
At the close of the court
hearing, activists started yelling at Zoabi, and a number of them
physically engaged with security personnel trying to escort her out.
Activists began pushing the guards, who pushed back at the activists and
successfully smuggled Zoabi out a back exit.
...
Ben-Ari made a fiery speech at the High Court demanding that it uphold the ban.
"If they don't disqualify Zoabi today, tomorrow she'll throw a bomb
in the Knesset," he said after a group of around thirty activists tried
to prevent Zoabi from leaving the court. "They need to throw them into
Syria."
MK Haneen Zoabi also held a press conference following the
confrontation, decrying the state of democracy in Israel. "I never
imagined such a thing could happen," she said. "I feel that there has
been incitement against me throughout the current Knesset so there's
nothing new." She added that it was ironic that in a debate about
equality that she was forced to leave through the back door for her
safety.
Turning to the court hearing on the Central Elections
Committee move to ban her from running in the next Knesset, Zoabi said
"attempts to disqualify me are an attack on everybody who is against the
occupation."
Balad party chairman Jamal Zahalka, who also spoke
at the conference, said they had been set upon by a "group of fascists,"
and blamed court security for the incident.
The odds that Zoabi will be disqualified from running are somewhere between slim and none, even though on the face of the statute (which disqualifies anyone who disavows Israel's Jewish and democratic character) she ought to be. But hey - if the United States can have a communist President....
Zoabi won't be disqualified, AG refuses to defend elections committee
I must have gone to law school in a very strange place. When I took my course in 'professional responsibility' (i.e. ethics), I was taught that a lawyer is not a bus, he's a taxi, and that in private practice one had the right to refuse to take cases. But the same didn't apply to someone who was a public servant. I was taught that you didn't have to agree with a client in order to take their case - only to vigorously defend them.
But the rules are different here in Israel. Most of the organized bar - especially in the public sector - is extremely Leftist. And when they don't like something, or when something is not politically correct, they refuse to take the case. That's why no one could find a lawyer to vigorously defend Yigal Amir when he was charged with assassinating the Prince of Peace in 1995, and that's why Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D's (May God Avenge his blood) Kach party will once again remain the only party ever disqualified from running in an Israeli election.
"It is the opinion of the attorney-general that there is no room for the
esteemed High Court of Justice to authorize the Central Elections
Committee decision to bar MK Zoabi from running in the 19th Knesset,"
the attorney-general stated.
The court is set to hear Zoabi's petition on Thursday with a panel of
nine justices, presided over by Supreme Court President Asher D.
Grunis.
Zoabi has been one of the most controversial people in Israeli politics, following her participation aboard the Mavi Marmara
ship sailing in the 2010 flotilla trying to break Israel’s blockade of
Gaza. Sailors trying to commandeer the ship clashes with Turkish
activists on board, and killed nine of them in the ensuing
confrontations.
The state, as represented by Attorney-General
Yehuda Weinstein, has consistently opposed the ban on Zoabi, and indeed
bans on any political parties in Israel. Last week, Weinstein
recommended to the Election Committee not to disqualify MK Zoabi
(Balad) or the United Arab List-Ta’al, Balad and Strong Israel parties,
and to allow them all to run in the upcoming January 22 Knesset
election.
The attorney-general said he deemed the evidence gathered against
Zoabi to be “disturbing and substantial” and “close to the level of
being prohibited,” but ultimately did not reach the “critical mass”
necessary for disqualifying her.
Article 7A of the Basic Law: The
Knesset says that a party list or an individual candidate cannot reject
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incite to violence or support
armed combat by an enemy state or terror organization against the State
of Israel.
The point isn't what the Supreme Court will or will not decide. The point is that a politically incorrect point of view stands no chance of getting a fair hearing in this country.
Pigs fly: Supreme Court orders uber-Leftist AG to disclose why he didn't prosecute Mavi Marmara MK
This is a flying pigs moment.
The Supreme Court has ordered uber-Leftist Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein (the same guy who refused to defend the government's position on Migron last week) to disclose to the court why he decided not to prosecute MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) and Islamic Movement leader Raed Sallah for their participation in the Mavi Marmara attempted terrorist attack in May 2010.
The decision was made following Monday’s hearing on a petition filed by MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union), activist Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Movement for Our Land of Israel.
The petition had demanded a full accounting of the state’s decision to close the case against Zoabi and Salah as a first step toward compelling the state to file the case.
The petitioners hoped that once a fuller version of the state’s reasons for closing the case was put forward that they would be able to point out defects in the decision.
Previously, the state had only released a brief press release regarding the decision to close the case with no significant detailed explanation as to why.
However, there was nothing remarkable in and of itself about the fact that the press release was short on details.
In the separation of powers scheme between the executive and judicial branches, the court mostly defers to the state prosecutor when it comes to closing cases, reasoning that as the official body which litigates criminal cases for the state, its professional judgment about how good a case it has should not be second-guessed.
Most cases which are closed do not even have a press release, let alone a public explanation in detail of the reasons the case was considered weak by the state.
The fact that the courts do not normally interfere with the state’s decisions to close cases makes the court’s decision all the more surprising.
Further, the court wrote an extremely short two page opinion, citing no legal precedents for its decision, also an unusual step.
That said, putting matters in perspective, even as the petitioners have won an initial victory in that the state must produce a more detailed explanation within 30 days, their battle is far from won.
The article goes on to discount the possibility that Ben Ari and Gvir might actually win (and that might just be media bias), but for now at least, we can celebrate.
"Israel is not a victim, and even when civilians are killed, the occupying Israeli policy is to blame," Channel 10 quoted Zoabi as saying.
"If there was no occupation, no repression and no blockade, then this wouldn't have happened," she said during an interview at Haifa's Gordon College.
According to Channel 2, Zoabi also came out against Israel's efforts to have the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics remembered with a moment of silence during the opening ceremonies of this year's London Olympics.
"Why don't they commemorate the Palestinians that Israel murdered," Channel 2 quoted Zoabi as saying. "If Israel would say that it recognizes the injustice it has done to Palestinians, then it would also be logical to ask the world to remember all the sides. But it is hypocritical to continue to bring up the victims of 40 years ago, while Israel wants to hide the victims of recent years."
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
