FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Israel Central Elections Commission Denies Request to Disqualify Kahanist Candidates
March 6, 2019
This evening, the Israel Central Elections Commission denied the request brought by the Reform Movement, to disqualify the candidacies of Michael Ben Ari and Itamar Ben Gvir, who are running in the elections for the 21st Knesset. Orly Erez Likhovski, the head of the Legal Department at the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), which represented the Reform Movement in the case, presented the committee with numerous examples of written and video evidence demonstrating that the two candidates have a long history of racist incitement and that racism and racist incitement are central to their platform. The request for disqualification was denied by one vote: 15 for disqualifying Ben Ari and Ben Gvir to 16 against. The results of the vote went against the recommendation of Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit.
Ben Ari and Ben Gvir view themselves as the heirs of Rabbi Meir Kahane, an extremist whose political party, Kach was ruled to be a terrorist organization in the nineties and was barred from running for the Knesset.
Anat Hoffman, the Executive Director of IRAC, stated: Today, we were the only Jewish voice in the room speaking against racism. Years of fighting against bigotry culminated in our strong case, supported by solid evidence, against the Kahanists. We lost by a single vote, but the fight is not over. We be appealing to the Supreme Court. I am proud of our team and our refusal to give racism a place in the Knesset.
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Karen Saar
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