"We are here to stop those trying to infiltrate the Knesset to destroy our democracy from within," Shaffir said. "We will not let you kidnap Israeli democracy."
By GIL HOFFMANSTAV SHAFFIR: The world sees us as only Netanyahu, and his voice is the only voice they hear(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The head of the Central Election Committee, Supreme Court Judge Hanan Melcer, forced Democratic Union Knesset candidate Stav Shaffir to stop speaking in dramatic fashion at a hearing in Wednesday about disqualifying the Otzma Yehudit the far-right party Otzma Yehudit.“We are here to stop those trying to infiltrate the Knesset to destroy our democracy from within,” Shaffir said. “We will not let you kidnap Israeli democracy.”After Otzma candidates repeatedly heckled Shaffir, she ran out of the time alotted to her. When Melcer asked her to finish and she refused, he ordered ushers to remove her from the lecturn.“Madame, leave the lecturn,” Melcer said repeatedly to Shaffir.Melcer stopped the ushers from removing Shaffir physically. But he did turn off her microphone.Shaffir responded later that she would continue fighting Otzma Yehudit, despite the incident."The Kahanists will not silence me,” Shaffir said. “We have stopped being afraid of you. You can close our microphones, but no one will stop our struggle for Israeli democracy.”After she compared Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir to Adolf Hitler on Twitter, he announced that he would sue her for defamation in an NIS 500,000 lawsuit.
