Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit has backed an electoral ban for Michael Ben Ari, the leader of the Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party, on the grounds of incitement to racism, reported Haaretz.
However, Mendelblit “said that Ben Ari’s party colleague, Itamar Ben-Gvir, should be allowed to run”.
Elections body holds raucous debate on disqualifying right-wing extremist: Day after attorney general recommends barring Otzma Yehudit leader Michael Ben Ari from running, shouting matches and a libel lawsuit reach the Knesset https://t.co/mvYFM0cePc TimesofIsrael pic.twitter.com/fORS8ZCRaD
— Jewish Community (@JComm_BlogFeeds) March 6, 2019
Jewish Power is part of a joint ticket known as the Union of Right-Wing Parties.
Mendelblit detailed his views in an opinion submitted to the Central Elections Committee, Haaretz reported, which is discussing three requests to disqualify Jewish Power.
The attorney general cited a number of recent quotations from Ben Ari in support of his view.
Yes; and Ben-Gvir passed AD review, so it appears he would replace Ben Ari https://t.co/GhIJyGgjvJ
— Renan Levine (@RenanLevine) March 6, 2019
In November 2017, for instance, at an annual memorial for Rabbi Meir Kahane, Ben Ari gave a speech in which he said of Israeli Arabs,
“Let’s give them another 100,000 dunams [of land] and affirmative action, maybe they’ll love us. In the end, yes, they’ll love us when we’re slaughtered.”
Israels attorny general has recomnended,the disqualify of Mi hael Ben Ari (Chairman of Otzma Yehudit)("jewish power ").From the knesset , on the grounds of incitement to racism !The same group,Netanyahu has befriended . Who are also associated with extremist Kahanist movement.
— eddie ⚘✊ #JC4PM2019 (@blueunicorn63) March 6, 2019
In May 2018, Ben Ari gave another speech in which he said,
“The Arabs of Haifa aren’t different in any way from the Arabs of Gaza. How are they different? In that, they’re here, enemies from within. They’re waging war against us here, within the state. And this is called – it has a name – it’s called a fifth column. We need to call the dog by its name. They’re our enemies. They want to destroy us.”
A disqualification petition against Jewish Power was submitted last week after it reached the 12 required signatures from members of the Central Elections Committee, a committee comprised of representatives of all the parties in the outgoing Knesset.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
