For the first time in its history, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has urged the limiting of certain civil rights. The ACRI indicated that its call was in response to last month’s election to the Knesset of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the head of the Kach Party.
The ACRI announced a campaign to seek to have legislation adopted which would ban what it said would be people like Kahane from being elected to the Knesset. “Those who do not believe in the high principles of the (Israeli) Declaration of Independence, have no place in the Knesset,” Justice Haim Cohn, the ACRI president, told a news conference yesterday. Cohn said the proposed legislation would also include changes in the immunity from prosecution which Knesset members now have under the law.
In a related development, the Jerusalem Municipal Council “noted” yesterday the statement by Mayor Teddy Kollek condemning “any manifestation of racism and violence in the city,” and calling on all Knesset members to support legislation that would “stop activities against people because of their national, religious or cultural background.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
