Yisrael Beytenu Bill Asserts Knesset Authority Over Elections

In another attempt at asserting the authority of the Knesset versus that of the High Court, MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu) plans to introduce a bill on Sunday to end judicial interference in decisions about which candidates qualify to run in elections, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The proposal, signed by all members of Yisrael Beytenu, would ensure that the Knesset Central Elections Committee would have the final say on such matters, and that the Court would not be able to overrule its decisions, as it has done in recent cases.

“Unfortunately, over the past few years the Knesset has become a place where terrorists and their supporters sit confidently,” Forer said. “This is why MK Ayman Odeh (Joint Arab List) and former MK Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List) abandoned IDF soldiers and left them to die, refusing to condemn injury to them.

“Before the 2015 elections, the Central Elections Committee decided to adopt Yisrael Beytenu’s stance and did not allow MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint Arab List) to run for Knesset. However, the Supreme Court canceled the Committee’s decision, allowing Zoabi to run.”

Zoabi, who rode on the Mavi Marara vessel that was seized trying to run the Gaza blockade in 2010, has been charged with supporting terrorism. She recently said that Jews have “no right to self-determination,” and admitted that she uses her place in the Knesset “for her own interests, for her own national approaching [sic].” The “Zionists,” she said, should leave “the whole area,” not just Gaza, Yehudah and Shomron.

Forer noted further that “during the current coalition, members of the Joint Arab List condemned Saudi Arabia for recognizing Hezbollah as a terror organization. They also placed a wreath of flowers on a terrorist’s grave on Independence Day, and stood with their families for a moment of silence after the wreath was placed on the terrorist’s grave.”