Judge Eliezer Rivlin, head of the Election Committee, has rejected a request from Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to bar Ichud Leumi (National Union) Knesset Member candidate and nationalist activist Baruch Marzel from being present at a polling station in Umm el-Fahm, a Galilee city considered a hotbed of the radical Islamic Movement.
Attorney General Mazuz sent an urgent letter Friday morning to Judge Rivlin, asking him to reverse a committee decision on Thursday allowing Ichud Leumi candidate Baruch Marzel to serve as supervisor at one of Umm El Fahm's ballot booths.
"The Election Committee has no authority to interfere in the issue of which representatives of political parties are assigned to monitor polling stations," Judge Rivlin replied.
"Moreover, Marzel's position as a delegate of his party is not the issue because the police have estimated that his presence in the city, regardless of the reason, is liable to cause public disorder," he added.
The Election Committee chairman ruled that the solution to Mazuz's complaint should be found elsewhere and not at the hands of the Election Committee.
"We made it clear to the police on Thursday that its prediction of an apocalypse has to be met by suitable means, and the police are aware of them," he explained.
"At this point, the request is premature and lacks relevant details concerning actions that will be taken to maintain public order on Election Day." He added that the request is "out of proportion" to the issue of Marzel's presence in the city.
Mazuz cited intelligence assessments he received from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and police, which point to a near certain danger of "serious damage to the public order, public peace and the proper management of the elections."
Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen wrote to Mazuz that the police foresee a harsh physical confrontation between local residents and Marzel's activists, which will force the police to deploy a large contingent. The anticipated riots, he warned, could endanger lives and also could spread out of Umm El Fahm to the rest of Wadi Ara and the entire Arab sector.
Mazuz cited Marzel's former membership in Kach, which was officially branded a terrorist organization.
Marzel said in response that Mazuz's letter "proves once again that the person sitting in the Justice Ministry is an appointee of the radical left. Instead of dealing with [election] fraud in the Arab sector and the application of the rule of law, Mazuz is trying to intervene where he has no real authority to do so."