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Feb. 4, 2021
Three of the four factions of Joint List – Hadash, Ta al and Balad – have signed an agreement for a united bid for Israel s March election, parting ways with the conservative United Arab List after a prolonged period of disagreements.
After holding talks into the late hours of Wednesday night, the three factions announced they had struck a deal to submit a list to the Central Election Committee deadline prior to the deadline on Thursday at midnight.
Representatives of Hadash, Balad and Ta al sign agreement to run together for March election.
Ayman Odeh (Hadash) will continue to lead the slate, and will be followed by Ta al leader Ahmad Tibi and then the newly elected Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh. Prominent Hadash lawmakers Aida Touma-Sliman and Ofer Cassif, the sole Jewish MK on the list, will take fourth and sixth place respectively.
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Last time, the coronavirus crisis was the grounds used to ask for the postponement. In their letter, Netanyahu’s attorneys Amit Hadad and Boaz Ben Tzur waxed lyrical, saying, “These are the days of general lockdown in the State of Israel.” Without any shame they argued that because of the cabinet decision to restrict the economy, their office was working with limited personnel, which would make work difficult for the defense. They also claimed that these constraints were not in Netanyahu’s control. (“It’s self-evident that these constraints were not anticipated in advance, and were not in the control of the petitioner and his representatives.”) The judges dismissed the request, but later decided to postpone the hearing on their own initiative.