Not that I think that parties should be banned – and I don’t think they will be – but talking of your country as “they” doesn’t exactly gives the image that they themselves consider to belong.
My first reaction was “Oh, I didn’t realise that the Arabs had a vote in Israel.” But presumabley that does not include those on the West Bank and in Gaza.
My second point is that although 30% of the population are Arab, they only have about 5% of the seats in the Knesset. I thought that Israel had a propotional system, and that is why a few fundamentalist MPs could get elected and hold the government to ransom.
If that is true then banning two of the three Arab parties will “force” all Arabs to vote for the legal one, and should increase the overall Arab representation in the Knesset, since the Arab vote will no longer be split.
But then perhaps the Jews have gerrymandered the constituencies to prevent that.
Alastair,
You are making the mistake of assuming that Israeli Arabs only vote for Arab parties. Many, I believe, vote for Labour or other left-Zionist parties.
Eli,
That’s because this whole banning thing was political theatre, as Kadima tries to convince the Israeli public that they are as “tough” as Likud. There seems to be a wonderful positive feedback in Israel between the public and the politicians that is stoking anti-Palestinian or at least anti-Hamas fervor. (I make no comment on Hamas’ contribution to this.)
wmconnolley: scienceblogs.com/stoat archive 
Was tried earlier in the decade. The Israeli Supreme Court threw it out. Besides this ain’t gerrymandering, it’s voter supression. (see the wiki)
[Yes yes I knew that, but its not such a cute word for a blog title -W]
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Not that I think that parties should be banned – and I don’t think they will be – but talking of your country as “they” doesn’t exactly gives the image that they themselves consider to belong.
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You could try Caging (look it up under voter supression)
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My first reaction was “Oh, I didn’t realise that the Arabs had a vote in Israel.” But presumabley that does not include those on the West Bank and in Gaza.
My second point is that although 30% of the population are Arab, they only have about 5% of the seats in the Knesset. I thought that Israel had a propotional system, and that is why a few fundamentalist MPs could get elected and hold the government to ransom.
If that is true then banning two of the three Arab parties will “force” all Arabs to vote for the legal one, and should increase the overall Arab representation in the Knesset, since the Arab vote will no longer be split.
But then perhaps the Jews have gerrymandered the constituencies to prevent that.
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The Israeli supreme court threw it out again.
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Alastair,
You are making the mistake of assuming that Israeli Arabs only vote for Arab parties. Many, I believe, vote for Labour or other left-Zionist parties.
Eli,
That’s because this whole banning thing was political theatre, as Kadima tries to convince the Israeli public that they are as “tough” as Likud. There seems to be a wonderful positive feedback in Israel between the public and the politicians that is stoking anti-Palestinian or at least anti-Hamas fervor. (I make no comment on Hamas’ contribution to this.)
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