Israel's Supreme Court overturned a decision to disqualify fringe Knesset candidates Hanin Zoabi of the Joint (Arab) List and Baruch Marzel of the Yachad party from participating in the upcoming general elections, the Times of Israel reported Wednesday.
Zoabi and Marzel were barred last week by the Central Elections Committee from participating in the March 17 elections for allegedly violating Israeli election law, citing the extremist views held by both candidates – Marzel for alleged anti-Arab racism and Zoabi for alleged support for Hamas and opposition to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.
In both cases, eight Supreme Court justices voted to allow the controversial figures to run, while justice Elyakim Rubinstein sought to uphold the ban.
The court did not announce the reasoning behind the ruling and said a full decision would be released by later this month.
Lawyers for Zoabi, an MK originally with the Balad party known for her firebrand anti-Zionist statements, hailed the ruling.
“This is not the first time politicians have tried to disqualify Arab MKs for reasons of racism and political motivations,” a statement from her attorneys said.
“We are aware that this inflammatory atmosphere is what created an image of MK Zoabi that is far from reality. With that, we recognize that our political struggle is outside the boundaries of the consensus, and even challenges it, and we view this as our natural democratic right.”