Two Israeli arab political parties have been banned from next month's election because they are opposed to the attack on Gaza.

Israeli arabs [actually they are Palestinian by another name ] comprise some 20 % of the population of Israel and are widely regarded as second class citizens.

Their already difficult place in the theocratic state odf Israel is going to become ever more precarious as the right wing parties become more reactionary in the coming months and years.

The claim that Israel is somehow a functioning democracy looks a little hollow in the light of the banning and in the way this substantial and growing arab israeli population is treated by its political masters.
ifor