The Israeli Supreme Court has nullified the ban against a Labor Party candidate, clearing the way for her to run in the upcoming Knesset election.
On Sunday, the Court announced that it had ruled in favor of the appeal submitted by Ibtisam Mara'ana, an Israeli-Arab filmmaker who is running for the Knesset on the seventh spot on the Labor Party’s candidate slate, after the Central Election Committee voted last week to bar Mara’ana from participating in the election.
Justice David Mintz voted in favor of upholding the Central Election Committee decision disqualifying Mara’ana from the election, while the remaining eight justices voted to overturn the ban.
The petition to ban Mara’ana was filed by Otzma Yehudit chief Itamar Ben-Gvir, while a similar petition aimed at disqualifying Mara’ana was submitted by Maozia Segal, a wounded IDF veteran who later withdrew the request.
Last Wednesday, the Court held a hearing on Mara’ana’s appeal calling to overturn the ban, and focused on some of her controversial statements cited in the Otzma Yehudit petition. Chief among them were Mara’ana’s comments during a 2008 interview in which she called for the destruction of the Israeli city of Zichron Yaakov and told Israeli Jews to leave the country.
“I would annihilate Zichron Yaakov,” Mara’ana said at the time. “Go back to the US or Poland.”
During the hearing, Mara’ana disavowed her previous statements, but also denied she had called for the destruction of Zichron Yaakov.
“I am human and I can make mistakes. I did not call for the destruction of Zichron Yaakov. I made a mistake during an interview because I wasn’t experienced in giving interviews. I apologize. I did not mean that Jews should go back to Poland. I am really apologizing, and I was born to be a bridge and I want to be a member of the Knesset who will be good for both Jews and Arabs.”
“I apologize for everything I that could have sounded racist or like incitement. I never incited against anyone. I am married to Boaz, who is Jewish, and we have a daughter who is half Jewish and half Arab.”
An Israeli-Arab filmmaker from Jaffa, Mara’ana has faced criticism for her anti-Zionist comments, her attacks on the IDF, and her public refusal to observe the two-minute siren on Memorial Day.
Earlier this month, Mara’ana apologized for posts on social media bragging about having ignored the memorial siren.
"I stand for the siren when I'm outside. I apologize that [my post] hurt a mother, father, brother or sister who lost their daughter or son - it doesn't matter what the reasons are," she told Channel 12 News.
In other social media posts, Mara’ana called Israel an “ugly” country, and claimed tht the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip is a “ghetto under brutal occupation”.
Two months ago, Mara’ana lambasted the IDF as an “occupation army”, and accused IDF soldiers of murdering an Arab child.
Mara’ana has also praised an Islamic Jihad terrorist who launched a hunger strike, lauded Nakhba Day events lamenting Israel’s establishment, and called on the municipality of Tel Aviv, where she lives, to light up city hall with the colors of the PLO flag.