Baruch Marzel
Baruch MarzelHadas Parush/Flash 90

Baruch Marzel of Otzma Yehudit, number four on Yachad - Ha'am Itanu's joint list, responded on Thursday night to the Central Elections Committee vote disqualifying him from the Knesset on vague charges of "racism," with 17 for and 16 against.

"The disqualified disqualified the valid," Marzel said. "The majority that the left formed in the committee and the opposition of the left, the Arabs and the Reform movement illustrates just how much they are afraid of me."

Just before the Committee voted to disqualify Marzel it voted to similarly disqualify Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad), with a vote of 27 for and six against. Zoabi has openly supported the Hamas terrorist organization and justified terror attacks.

Remarking on the two votes, Marzel said that the committee members who voted against disqualifying Zoabi are the same ones who voted to disqualify him.

"This is hypocrisy and falseness of the highest order," declared Marzel. "I rely on the Holy One Blessed be He and not on the High Court, but I proved in the discussion that the evidence is distorted."

Noting on a key point in the petition against him, focusing on how he refused to shake the hand of Central Elections Committee chairperson judge Salim Joubran, Marzel added "even if I didn't shake Joubran's hand, that isn't a pretext to disqualify me."

Marzel at the time remarked that he didn't shake Joubran's hand not because he is an Arab, but due to his anti-Israel and anti-IDF bias, and that likewise he didn't shake the hands of Jewish judges present who he also considers to be opponents of Israel.

Now that the Committee has voted against Marzel, his case will go to the High Court for a final ruling.

It is estimated that the High Court will follow the opinion of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, who found there was no evidence behind the case against Marzel as it was completely based on uncorroborated newspaper article quotes, and therefore he recommended throwing out the petition. He recommended similarly regarding Zoabi.

In responding to the petition against him on Wednesday, Marzel noted that the examples cited in it against him show that his opposition to anti-Israel sources is not related to race, as seen in criticism the petition says he made against two MKs of the communist Hadash party, one Arab and one Jewish.