HAIFA, Thursday, March 07, 2019 (WAFA) - “Israel’s Central Elections Committee is a political body that operates in overt contradiction of law and court rulings in order to humiliate Arab candidates,” said Hassan Jabareen, general director of Adalah – the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

He was responding to the committee’s disqualifications of Ofer Cassif, of Hadash party, and the National Democratic Assembly (Balad) – United Arab List (Ra‘am) from running in the April 9 legislative elections in Israel.

“The petitioners against Dr. Ofer Cassif made false claims that do not qualify for any of the grounds for disqualification as stipulated in Israel’s Basic Law: The Knesset. The rejection of his candidacy for the Knesset was based on statements in a single interview in which he reiterated that he opposes any and all forms of violence and supports an egalitarian state,” said Jabareen.

“The disqualification of Balad-Ra’am was likewise politically motivated.”

The human rights defender said the elections committee rejected the candidacy of Cassif – an individual who supports equality for all – while simultaneously approving the candidacy of Michael Ben-Ari, a racist individual affiliated with a racist movement that has been recognized as a terrorist organization.

“It is clear that the committee’s decisions are strictly the result of political considerations reflecting the McCarthyist persecution of those whose views are not acceptable to Israel’s political right,” he concluded his statement.

M.K.