Knesset members are attempting to bar Hanin Zoabi from Israel's upcoming elections. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Member of Knesset Danny Danon (Likud) and the Yisrael Beiteinu party have joined forces in filing a petition with the Israeli Central Election Committee to bar controversial Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) from participating in the March 17 elections.

Zoabi, who was suspended from the Knesset for six months last October after saying the Hamas kidnappers and murderers of three Jewish teenagers were “not terrorists,” is slated sixth on the Joint Arab List’s ticket, formed last week after the Balad, Ra’am-Ta’al, and Hadash parties— fearing they would fail to pass the election threshold—decided to merge.

The petition, filed Thursday with Central Elections Committee Chairman Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran, stated that Zoabi’s outspoken support of Palestinian violence against Israel, as well as past statements in which she denied Israel’s existence, are in violation of Basic Law: The Knesset.

Zoabi said, “I have no interest in commenting on the actions of MKs from parties plagued by corruption, which are likely to vanish from the political map come the next election.”