Court hears Zoabi petition
Yonah Jeremy Bob (sic), JPost, Dec 27 2012
In a whirlwind of legal arguments, wrestling and threats to change the law to make it easier to disqualify Knesset candidates, the High Court of Justice on Thursday heard Balad MK Hanin Zoabi’s petition to be reinstated for the current campaign. Zoabi was disqualified by the Central Elections Committee last week, in a 19-9 vote, despite Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein recommending that she be allowed to run. The committee approved the ban on the grounds that Zoabi supported terrorism and rejected Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Seconds after she walked out of the Jerusalem courtroom at the close of Thursday’s hearing, MK Michael Ben-Ari and Itamar Ben-Gvir joined some 30 rightwing activists accosting and trying to block Zoabi and her entourage from leaving the Supreme Court building. Activists started yelling at Zoabi, and a number of them physically engaged with security personnel trying to escort her out. Activists began pushing the guards and Zoabi’s entourage, who pushed back in a free-for-all that lasted more than 10 minutes. Since it appeared impossible for Zoabi to exit the building, she was smuggled into one of the other courtrooms until the building’s main hall was cleared.The state representative reiterated its support for Zoabi running, since what it called her disturbing behavior did not meet the evidentiary standard for disqualification set by a High Court decision in 2003. The justices, who were unusually quiet, briefly got into a debate with the state about whether it was significant that IHH had been defined by the Defense Ministry as an illegal organization as early as 2008, even though it was not declared a terrorist organization until four years later. After the hearing and the altercation between the rightwing activists, Zoabi’s entourage and court security, Ben-Ari made a fiery speech, saying:If they don’t disqualify Zoabi today, tomorrow she’ll throw a bomb in the Knesset. They need to throw them into Syria.Shortly after exiting the courthouse through a side exit, Zoabi also held a press conference, saying:I never imagined such a thing could happen. I feel that there has been incitement against me throughout the current Knesset, so there’s nothing new. It’s ironic that in a debate about equality I had to leave through the back door for my own safety. Attempts to disqualify me are an attack on everybody who is against the occupation.Balad party chairman Jamal Zahalka, who also spoke at the press conference, said they had been set upon by a “group of fascists,” and blamed court security for the incident. Earlier in the day, Likud MK Danon told the JPost that if the court allowed Zoabi to run for the next Knesset, he had a Plan B prepared: amending the law to prevent future runs. Danon, who led the move to disqualify Zoabi, said he believed he could win in the High Court, despite the fact that it had never disqualified an Arab MK before.

[ed note;click link for whole article,just citing few excerpts..noteworthy, is the last sentences highligthed in green and blue coming for the ultra rigthwing zionists regarding Syria...