Zoabi: Democracy in Israel a ‘sick joke’

Haneen Zoabi, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, has said that the claim that Israel is a democratic nation is nothing but a “sick joke”.

Zoabi also added that the fact she has been deprived of the candidacy in the parliamentary elections, scheduled for 17 March, proves the way in which Israel targets the political struggle of the Palestinian people.

In an interview with a reporter from Anadolu press agency in her office in Nazareth, Zoabi said that Israel “does not want to see the representatives who are struggling for the Palestinian people in the Knesset.”

“I am a Palestinian and the Palestinian people’s struggle is my struggle. This struggle is based on universal values such as justice, freedom and equality. Banning me from running for election does not target me alone, but it targets the political struggle of the Palestinian people as a whole.”

She added that banning her from running in the election would not prevent her from telling the truth. “If there is terrorism in my country, its only source is the Israeli occupation and injustice.”

Zoabi also commented that the oft-repeated claim that “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East” is nothing but “a sick joke”.

“Israel defines itself as a Jewish state, and the only purpose of this definition is to legitimise the injustice imposed on the Palestinians in their homeland,” she said, stressing that a state founded on ethnic principles cannot be democratic.

With regard to the 2010 attack on the Mavi Marmara ship that was part of the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla, Zoabi highlighted that Mavi Marmara succeeded in bringing the word “blockade” to the fore in Israel and the world, noting that “the ship was not trying to break the blockade, but to break the silence about it, in which it succeeded.”

On parliamentary elections, Zoabi was reported as saying that if Netanyahu, Herzog or even Livni won the elections, they will not recognise Palestinian demands to declare East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine and return to the pre-1967 borders. However, she expressed her belief that Herzog and Livni “will behave with more accuracy than Netanyahu and adopt more liberal slogans.”

Zoabi stressed that she does not look positively on the proposal by Arab Israelis to boycott the parliamentary elections, adding that: “the Knesset is a way to contribute to show our presence… I do not say that the representation in parliament is the only way to struggle, but it is one of the ways.”

The Likud party, led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah, and the Yisrael Beiteinu party, led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, demanded that Haneen Zoabi be barred from candidacy in parliamentary elections next month under the pretext that she “supports terrorism”. The Central Election Committee approved their request in 12 February.