Chairman Avigdor Liberman of the Yisrael Beytenu Party said on Thursday, "I expect the Supreme Court to reject outright this time the Balad appeal [of the Central Election Committee decision to disqualify it] outright and will not allow the fifth column to enter the Knesset."
Calling the disqualification "a very important step", Liberman noted that the founder of the party was in exile after being suspected of espionage and assisting Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War and that two of its Knesset members have served or are serving time for security offenses.