The Central Elections Committee decided on Thursday to bar Balad MK Hanin Zoabi and extreme right-wing activist Baruch Marzel from participating in the March 17 elections. Their presence in the Knesset is beneath Israel, but the votes cast on the matter by the Likud and Labor-Hatnuah's Zionist Camp -- both contenders for the premiership crown -- were embarrassing. The Zionist Camp may swear by the freedom of speech, but in their frantic race for votes, Labor leader Isaac Herzog and Hatnuah Chairwoman Tzipi Livni had jumped on -- and off -- the bandwagon that was the petition to disqualify Zoabi, and voted in favor of barring Marzel from the race. The Likud, for its part, split its vote, seeking to bar Zoabi from the race, while opposing Marzel's exclusion from it, despite his known support for the late Rabbi Meir Kahane's radical legacy. The politicians made no time for an actual, practical debate on the issues, nor did they listen to legal experts on the matter. The vote followed clear partisan interests, and it did not pretend to be anything but politically motivated. Both Zoabi and Marzel know that the High Court of Justice will have the final say on the matter, and chances are it will overturn the committee's decisions. After all, this has become somewhat of a tradition during election time. It is highly likely that the committee members are aware of how things will play out. They voted for barring Zoabi and Marzel from the elections over the projected popularity of the move, but also because they know their decision is not the final one. The court will undoubtedly be presented with legal briefs undermining the committee's decision, and when debating the issue, the court will also have Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein's opinion, which negates the move, to fall back on. In this respect, the court will serve as democracy's insurance policy. High Court judges may loathe Zoabi and Marzel's conduct, but they would be loath to silence them, even if all they do is spew political and nationalistic venom. One can only wonder how long the High Court could serve as the marker of wisdom, prudence, and discretion in Israeli society. Anyone who has heard of Habayit Hayehudi's plan to interfere in the way judges are named to the High Court knows that four years from now, the results might be entirely different. Four years from now, the Central Elections Committee may bar someone from the Knesset race, and no one in the High Court of Justice would be willing to put their finger in the dam. Should that happen, Israel will find itself on the list of nations that have to prove they are proper democracies.
