Labor party candidate for the Knesset apologized for declaring in the past that she had deliberately ignored an annual two-minutes of silence held in memory of Holocaust victims.
Arab Israeli Ibtisam Mara’ana, who is seventh on the left-wing party’s slate following recent primaries, has faced a petition filed by fellow Labor members to have her candidacy annulled over the remarks, as well as and others she has made that the petitioners consider anti-Zionist or supportive of terror.
In the 2012 social media post, Mara’ana wrote “I did not stand during the siren, I was driving while the whole country was almost silent. I decided to keep going and there were two wonderful minutes during the siren. The road was empty, I kept thinking about what really interested me at that moment.”
Speaking to Channel 12 News Saturday, Mara’ana said the post was made a long time ago, and added that she now observes the siren when outdoors. She said she would not write the same thing today.
“I stand up during the siren when I am outside,” she said. Apparently also referring to a similar siren held on Memorial Day for fallen members of Israel’s armed forces and victims of terror, she apologized for hurting “a mother, father, brother or sister who lost their daughter or son — it doesn’t matter what the reasons are.”
However, Mara’ana claimed the outcry against her was because of a double standard when it comes to the country’s Arab population.
“If I were not an Arab, would I be facing what I am facing?” she asked. “Would they call me a terrorist?”
Next week the Central Elections Committee will consider a petition to have Mara’ana’s candidacy canceled.
The petition was filed by Labor member Maozia Segal, an IDF veteran who was badly injured during his service. It is backed by other party members as well as the right-wing Likud and New Hope parties.
Mara’ana, a documentary filmmaker, hails from a northern Arab Israeli town, but identifies as Palestinian.
