Otzma Yehudit Party Seeks to Disqualify Yair Golan's 'Democrats' Party

The Otzma Yehudit party has filed a petition with the Central Elections Committee demanding the disqualification of the "Democrats" party, led by Yair Golan, from running in the upcoming Knesset elections. The petition, submitted on Monday, cites two main grounds for disqualification based on Israeli law: incitement to racism and denial of Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state.

Otzma Yehudit's filing includes evidence of public statements made by Golan and other party members. These allegedly include calling settlers in Homesh "sub-humans" and referring to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) public as a "parasitic population." The petition also points to Golan's stated intention to shut down Channel 14, a specific media outlet, and similar intentions expressed by another party candidate, Tomer Avital. Furthermore, the filing addresses calls for harming the reserve forces, citing Golan's encouragement of "civil disobedience" during protests against the judicial overhaul, which included directives to refuse reserve duty until the government changed.

In a reciprocal move, the Democrats party had earlier filed its own petition to disqualify Otzma Yehudit. The Democrats' request accuses Otzma Yehudit of "harming democracy and denying the existence of the State of Israel as a democratic state and for incitement to racism." Their filing specifically names Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and MK Tali Gottlieb as representatives of "Kahanism" in the Knesset, alleging they use their power to undermine the rule of law, disregard judicial orders, and incite violence.

Otzma Yehudit responded to the Democrats' petition by calling them an "anti-Semitic, anti-Israel party." They accused Golan of stating that IDF soldiers kill babies as a hobby, claimed party members led draft refusal before October 7th, provided legal representation to terrorists, and supported an "anti-Semitic incitement video" against the IDF. Otzma Yehudit asserted that the Democrats' presence in the Knesset is a "disgrace" to Israel.