Insufficient evidence to disqualify Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi

Israel’s Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, has issued his legal opinion on the proposal to disqualify Knesset member (MK) Hanin Zoabi and prevent her from standing in the forthcoming election.

“Although the matter, in my view, has to do with an accumulation of important evidence which borders on forbidden behaviour” said the Attorney General’s statement, “there was not enough evidence to disqualify her.”

In its formal request to the Central Elections Committee to ban MK Zoabi, the Likud Party said that despite her work in the Israeli parliament, “MK Hanin Zoabi did not stop from plotting publicly against the state of Israel and incitement against its government, its institutions and the Israeli army and its leaders.” Likud also noted that Zoabi took part in the Marmara flotilla when, it is alleged absurdly, Israeli soldiers “risked their lives”. The application for disqualification also claimed that the Arab-Israeli MK does not recognise the existence of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state”.

Other disqualification requests submitted to the Central Election Committee included one to disbar certain parties from taking part in the Israeli election next month. Again, Mr. Weinstein said that there is insufficient evidence to approve such a ban.