Parties race as deadline for disqualifying lists looms
The head of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court judge Neal Hendel, already disqualified the second candidate on the Economic Dawn list, cannabis kingpin Amos Dov Silver.
By GIL HOFFMANLarissa Trembovler Amir, wife of Yitzhak Rabin's assassin Yigal Amir, registers her Fair Trial Party(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Requests to disqualify lists and candidates from running in the March 2 election must be received by the Central Elections Committee by Wednesday night.By Tuesday, three requests had been made. Labor faction chairman Itzik Shmuli asked to disqualify the Fair Trial Party of Larissa Trembovler Amir, wife of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir. Likud MK Ophir Katz requested that the committee block Balad MK Heba Yazbak from running. The Ani Ve’ata party asked to disqualify Yisrael Beytenu.There is expected to be a majority among the parties in the Central Elections Committee for disqualifying both Amir’s party and Yazbak when hearings are held on January 29. The Supreme Court will then convene to make a final decision.Ahead of the September election, the Supreme Court disqualified Otzma Yehudit candidates Bentzi Gopstein and Baruch Marzel but permitted the head of the party, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to run. The requests to disqualify Otzma Yehudit candidates were made by the Reform Movement.But the head of the Reform Movement in Israel, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, said on Tuesday that the movement would not request any disqualifications this time.“We still believe Ben-Gvir should be disqualified, but we must honor the decision of the Supreme Court,” he said.The head of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Judge Neal Hendel, already disqualified the second candidate on the Economic Dawn list, Amos Dov Silver, the founder of the mass cannabis distribution network Telegrass. Hendel rejected Silver’s appeal to run from prison and ruled that his crimes involved moral turpitude.
