72 chapter two This means that efforts to secure equal legal and political status for Arabs by highlighting the discriminatory legal and political outcomes of Israel’s total bias in favour of its Jewish citizens are outlawed and rendered susceptible to a prison sentence. Importantly, the 2002 amendment includes new grounds for disqualification, namely, “support for an armed struggle of an enemy state or of a terrorist organization against the State of Israel” (Sultany 2003, 25–26). Here, the ambiguity of terms such as “armed struggle” and “terrorist organization,” coupled with the characterization of neighbouring Arab and Muslim countries (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) and the Gaza Strip as “enemy states” are ambiguous and target the Palestinian citizenry. Indeed, in practice, this legislation is almost exclusively applied to Arab MKs. ii. On June 30, 2008, the Knesset plenum passed Amendment No. 39 to The Basic Law: The Knesset (Candidate who Unlawfully Stayed in an Enemy State). This amendment restricts the freedom of movement of Arab MKs to neighbouring Arab or Muslim states defined by Israel as ‘enemy states’. This prohibition was applied retroactively to Arab MKs and was explicitly developed in the context of visits by Arab MKs, namely former MK Dr. Azmi Bishara, to neighbouring Arab states. Following the approval of the amendment, Knesset member Zevulun Orlev (National UnionNational Religious Party) said: “From today, Arab MKs will have to decide: either the Syrian parliament or the Israeli parliament.”52 Incidentally, as noted by Attorney Haneen Na’amnih of Adalah: The new amendment to the Basic Law constitutes a flagrant violation of the constitutional right to be elected. It also circumvents prior judicial rulings, including the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned the decision of the Central Election Committee to disqualify the candidacy of MK Azmi Bishara because of his visits in Syria, his political speeches, and other claims. The Supreme Court’s decision emphasized the importance of the constitutional right to run and be elected.53 iii. Finally, on April 1, 2009, another amendment was proposed to The Basic Law: The Government Loyalty Oath which posits that upon taking up a ministerial office, all Ministers must make a loyalty oath to the state as a “Jewish, Zionist and democratic state” and to the values and symbols of 52 Amnon Meranda, “Bill banning those who visit enemy states from Knesset duty approved,” Ynet News, June 30, 2008, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3562284,00 .html. 53 Shihadeh, “Israel and the Palestinian Minority: Mada’s Bi-monthly Report,” 5.