Israel’s Supreme Court bans leader of Jewish ultranationalist party from election

Israel’s Supreme Court has banned Jewish Power party leader Michael Ben Ari from running in the country’s April elections. Reversing the decisions of Israel’s elections committee earlier this month, the court on Sunday ruled to bar Ben Ari in an 8-1 vote, citing his anti-Arab ideology and incitement, and to approve an Arab party and leftist candidate, AP said. Ben Ari slammed the court as a “judicial junta that seeks to take over our lives.” Israel’s right-wing Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called Ben Ari’s disqualification “a blatant and distorted intervention in the heart of Israeli democracy.” The court also upheld the candidacy of Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right lawyer and fellow leader of Jewish Power. The party’s leaders call themselves disciples of the late rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated expelling Arabs from Israel and creating a Jewish theocracy. Kahane’s Kach party was outlawed from the Israeli Parliament in the 1980s.