Israel's Central Elections Committee on Monday night voted to disqualify the Arab member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset), Ahmed Tibi from running in the next month general elections on the grounds that he supported "terrorism" against Israel.
Tibi, who knew early on that he would lose the vote, said he would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Tibi charged that his opponents had deliberately distorted the things he said in order to delegitimize him. In his comments in front of the Committee members, Tibi said, “Some of the statements attributed to me are untrue.
Politicians have good times and bad times. There is no question that the past two years have been very difficult, especially for the Arab Mebers of the Knesset. We have been kicked out of the community and delegitimized. We are being told we don’t have the right to protest, to express a different opinion.”
Tibi refused to declare unequivocally that he opposed Palestinian "terrorism" against Israeli civilians and the killing of Israeli soldiers, a condition that many of the committee members insisted on in order to vote against the disqualification bid.
He said he would not be treated like a “schoolchild” and do what he was told. But Tibi insisted that he opposed bloodshed and had said so many times. “I have never made one statement or declaration in favor or armed conflict,” said Tibi. “On the contrary. I was the first to say I opposed the militarization of the intifada.” (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
