On September 23, Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify all Arab electoral lists and several candidates from the upcoming parliamentary elections, including Ofer Cassif, a Jewish member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Israel (Maki) and a sitting member of the Knesset.
The decision also affects the communist-led Hadash and its electoral allies. The disqualifications are not final, as they remain subject to judicial review by Israel’s Supreme Court.
In a statement issued by the International Relations Section of its Central Committee, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) expresses its solidarity with the communists of Israel and strongly condemns the decision.
The full statement reads:
"The KKE firmly condemns the anti-democratic decision taken yesterday, September 23, by Israel’s Central Elections Committee, which excludes from the elections the electoral lists of all Arab political alliances and candidates, including the candidacy of Comrade Ofer Cassif, who is of Jewish origin, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel and a member of parliament to this day.
This unacceptable and anti-democratic practice of the Israeli occupation state demonstrates once again the class nature of bourgeois democracy, particularly under the present conditions of imperialist interventions and wars, as the State of Israel ruthlessly and cold-bloodedly murders the heroic people of Palestine and the people of Lebanon as part of its plan to 'reshape' the wider Middle East.
The New Democracy government and the forces of discredited social democracy, along with the rest of the compliant opposition, stand exposed. For years, they have proclaimed Israel a strategic ally of our country and praised it as supposedly the 'only democracy' in the Middle East, while the bourgeois Israeli state commits crimes against all neighbouring peoples and simultaneously suppresses every democratic right and achievement within its own borders.
Solidarity with the communists of Israel and their allies!
Hands off the communists of Israel!".
The full statement reads:
"The KKE firmly condemns the anti-democratic decision taken yesterday, September 23, by Israel’s Central Elections Committee, which excludes from the elections the electoral lists of all Arab political alliances and candidates, including the candidacy of Comrade Ofer Cassif, who is of Jewish origin, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel and a member of parliament to this day.
This unacceptable and anti-democratic practice of the Israeli occupation state demonstrates once again the class nature of bourgeois democracy, particularly under the present conditions of imperialist interventions and wars, as the State of Israel ruthlessly and cold-bloodedly murders the heroic people of Palestine and the people of Lebanon as part of its plan to 'reshape' the wider Middle East.
The New Democracy government and the forces of discredited social democracy, along with the rest of the compliant opposition, stand exposed. For years, they have proclaimed Israel a strategic ally of our country and praised it as supposedly the 'only democracy' in the Middle East, while the bourgeois Israeli state commits crimes against all neighbouring peoples and simultaneously suppresses every democratic right and achievement within its own borders.
Solidarity with the communists of Israel and their allies!
Hands off the communists of Israel!".
