The Meretz party appealed to members of the election committee today to join the party's request to disqualify the Otzma Yehudit Knesset list.
To discuss the disqualification, about 12 members of the Elections Committee must join the petition. Meretz hopes to obtain the number needed to appeal against Otzma's Knesset run.
The petition stated, among other things, that "the Respondents even acted to inflame passions in various arenas. This was the case after terror attacks, when they cynically exploited the hard feelings to incite harm to the Arab population and encourage such harm while taking advantage of their clout on the soccer fields and other arenas to call for systematic and deliberate contempt of the Arab population, both in the repeated attempts to 'revive' the image and teachings of Rabbi Kahane, whose movement was declared a terror organization, and in statements that 'it is indeed possible to close the structures and institutions of the Kach movement, but it can't be broken'.
"In doing so, the Respondents acted in a way that would incite the public into contemptible and unacceptable racism. In light of all the above, the Honorable Elections Committee is hereby requested to determine that the Respondents are barred from running in the elections to the Twenty-first Knesset until they commit themselves to depart from their path and act in accordance with the provisions of the law and the basic principles of the State of Israel," said the petition submitted by Meretz.
The Otzma Yehudit party said in response: "Meretz petition and MK Stav Shafir's letter are embarrassing, and it's clear that no legal advice was received before the petition and letter were drafted. To ask to disqualify Dr. Ben-Ari because of criticism of the Supreme Court or to disqualify Attorney Ben-Gvir because he represented the Duma case and said the file shouldn't be defined as a terror case is an insult to the world of justice.
"It's clear that Meretz and Labor are in distress and therefore are trying to deal in gimmicks rather than substance. Again, it turns out that parties that boast of freedom of expression are revealed as hypocrites. It seems that to Meretz it's legitimate to visit Abbas who encourages terrorism, but it's illegitimate for lovers of Israel who work for the State of Israel sit in the Knesset," said the Otzma Yehudit response.