Many Israelis were overjoyed at last week’s [Dec. 19] decision of the Central Elections Committee that disqualified Member Knesset Haneen Zoabi’s candidacy for the upcoming Knesset. Others squirmed uncomfortably in their seats but apparently they, too, were not really sorry. What is it about that Balad Israeli-Arab political party Knesset Member that arouses such great antagonism among the Israeli public, and not only from the Right? Why do so many people in Israel love to hate her? 

“The problem is not that I am a terrorist,” said Zoabi after her disqualification. “Maybe the problem is that I am too democratic. The problem with the Balad movement and the Arab Knesset members is that we are democratic in an atmosphere that does not believe in democracy.”

Throughout her political career, Knesset Member Zoabi has not only enraged such Knesset Members as Anastasia Michaeli, who almost physically attacked Zoabi from the Knesset’s rostrum, or Miri Regev, who called her derogatory nicknames that are not fit to be printed. Zoabi has also stirred up anger among people who regard democracy as their guiding principle in life.

The clear and immediate reason for this is Zoabi’s participation in the Mavi Marmara of the IHH, an Islamic Turkish NGO, that began as a humanitarian-assistance flotilla to Gaza and became a violent, provocative and bloody journey in 2010. Zoabi was viewed as someone who collaborated with Israel’s enemies and this, to the Israeli public, is an inexcusable mark of disgrace.