Israel/Palestine

Israeli

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35. New Israeli law seeks to expel ‘misbehaved’ Arab parliamentarians

Thu Jul 21, 2016, 12:45 AM

Jul 2016

Plenty of democratic countries have mechanisms for de-seating elected representatives, but those countries don’t have rich histories of trying to ban politicians of one ethnic group. And their laws weren’t designed to target specific unpopular politicians.

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
Published July 20, 2016

On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with the “Expulsion Law” passed by Israel’s Knesset early Wednesday morning. Lots of other parliaments have mechanisms for expelling elected representatives. In the U.S. Congress, all you need is a two-thirds majority vote determining that a member is guilty of “disorderly behavior.”

What is wrong with Israel’s new law is that it targets one particular parliamentarian and her party — who just happen to be elected representatives of Israel’s Palestinian citizens.

(snip)

The only Israeli parties that have consistently voted against excluding Arab parties from the Knesset are left-wing Zionist party Meretz and the Arab parties themselves, who together control a mere 18 seats (three short of being able to block an expulsion vote).

History has shown us that when it comes time to win a few votes, almost all Jewish Israeli political parties are willing to turn on the Arabs. Doing so has become a populist ritual of sorts.

In the entirety of its 227-year history, the United States Senate has expelled only 15 senators from elected office. Fourteen of them were expelled for disloyalty during the Civil War. Arab elected representatives in Israel today, on the other hand, are not at risk of expulsion because they are taking sides in a civil war; they are in the political crosshairs for engaging in civil discourse — for daring to challenge a political system that makes them, Palestinians, second-class citizens at best.

In the words of MK Yousef Jabareen, when it comes to Palestinian members of Knesset, the new law “will make the right to be elected conditional on ‘good behavior’.”

Continued @
http://972mag.com/new-israeli-law-seeks-to-expel-misbehaved-arab-parliamentarians/120752/

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An Israeli Law Created to Incite [View all] Israeli Jul 2016 OP

Here comes that same old feeling...Next step will be suspending and arresting the Judiciary. Ford_Prefect Jul 2016 #1

Yes. That is likely to happen soon. 6chars Jul 2016 #2

It will be completed by the opening of camps to "shelter" those arrested for violating the new laws Ford_Prefect Jul 2016 #3

What's so objectionable here? FBaggins Jul 2016 #4

There is nothing objectionable leftynyc Jul 2016 #5

There is no one in the Knesset who could possibly deserve expulsion. n/t. Ken Burch Jul 2016 #6

Is that is a statement leftynyc Jul 2016 #19

Supporters of Hamas & Hezbollah deserve expulsion from the Knesset shira Jul 2016 #28

she has as much right to be there as Kahane 6chars Jul 2016 #29

Exactly, meaning not at all. n/t shira Jul 2016 #30

Do you have have any examples of those "democratic legislative bodies"? Little Tich Jul 2016 #8

Have you ever heard of the United States? FBaggins Jul 2016 #9

Do you have any names of those who've been suspended under that law? n/t Little Tich Jul 2016 #12

There were quite a few at the start of the Civil War FBaggins Jul 2016 #13

Most of those expelled were Southern sympathizers, Little Tich Jul 2016 #17

One could easily argue that "southern sympathizers" were ejected for their poltical views FBaggins Jul 2016 #21

Are you actually arguing that the reason Israel has this law is because it's more democratic than Little Tich Jul 2016 #24

Israel has this law because it's wrong to support terror/murder of innocent Jews... shira Jul 2016 #27

From what I understand, Israel is the only democratic country with a law allowing for permanently Little Tich Jul 2016 #7

As usual, your "understanding" has a great deal of... creativity... in it. FBaggins Jul 2016 #10

Apparently Geoffrey Robinson was suspended from the UK parliament for three weeks, but that's not Little Tich Jul 2016 #15

Was that supposed to be logical? FBaggins Jul 2016 #16

It seems as if our disagreement stems from a misunderstanding. Little Tich Jul 2016 #18

It has been clear from the start that there was a significant misunderstanding FBaggins Jul 2016 #22

It seems as if you're unaware of the reason for creating this law: Little Tich Jul 2016 #25

Ayelet Shaked calls for the death penalty for Jewish terrorists murdering Arabs shira Jul 2016 #26

So what do you think was the purpose of Shaked's visit to the mother of a terrorist? Little Tich Jul 2016 #31

You're pretending Balad MK supporters of terror did the "right thing", why? shira Jul 2016 #32

The article implies that Shaked isn't actually calling for the death penalty for jewish terrorists, Little Tich Jul 2016 #33

There you go again, pretending the Balad MK's don't support terrorists (see post #28 above) shira Jul 2016 #34

How do yoiu feel about their banning of Kahane? 6chars Jul 2016 #11

Kahane banned? When? Why? Little Tich Jul 2016 #14

(1994) Israel Bans Kach, Kahane Chai Citing Them As Terrorist Groups shira Jul 2016 #20

I knew about that, but I thought that there was another ban that was related to the OP. n/t Little Tich Jul 2016 #23

New Israeli law seeks to expel ‘misbehaved’ Arab parliamentarians Israeli Jul 2016 #35