Ahead of the Central Elections Committee’s hearing on a request to disqualify the Ra’am party from running in the elections for the 26th Knesset, the Choosing Life Forum of bereaved families and victims of terrorism filed an urgent petition with the Supreme Court against Central Elections Committee Chairman and Supreme Court Deputy President Justice Noam Sohlberg.
The petition was filed after the judge rejected the families’ representatives’ request to be present in the hearing room during deliberations on the disqualification request that they themselves initiated and submitted.
The hearing on the request to disqualify Ra’am is expected to take place before the Elections Committee this coming Wednesday. Due to the proximity of the hearing, the petitioners asked the Supreme Court to hold an urgent hearing on the matter and order the committee proceedings suspended until a ruling is issued on their petition.
Justice Sohlberg’s decision not to permit the bereaved parents to enter the hearing room was based, among other things, on space limitations, concern over “inflamed passions" and interruptions, as well as a determination that the families’ degree of connection to the case “is relatively limited" because the request does not concern those directly involved in the terrorist attacks in which their loved ones were murdered.
In their petition to the Supreme Court, the bereaved families challenge those arguments. They claim that the decision constitutes a serious violation of the principles of equality and due process, since representatives of the Ra’am party will be permitted to sit in the hearing room as parties to the proceedings, while they - who submitted affidavits, initiated the proceedings and spent years collecting approximately 1,000 pages of materials and research concerning alleged ties between Ra’am and the Hamas terrorist organization - will be left outside.
Regarding concerns over disruption of the proceedings, the forum stressed that its request was solely for its representatives to be quietly present and that they would comply with all security instructions.
The Choosing Life Forum stated: “It is inconceivable that Ra’am representatives will sit inside the hearing room while the bereaved families who submitted the disqualification request remain outside. It is particularly difficult to accept the determination that our degree of connection to the matter is not significant."
“Our loved ones were murdered by Hamas terrorists, and the disqualification request we submitted concerns allegations of support for that same terrorist organization. Our connection to this hearing is not theoretical - it was written in the blood of our families."