the israeli incorporation regime71 during the attacks on Gaza, 34 percent of whom were minors. On the systematic targeting of Palestinian protesters during this violent crackdown, Adalah notes: Significantly, not one detainee from the Tel Aviv District, where the majority of Jewish protestors against the war were detained, was remanded until the end of proceedings against them. By contrast, all detainees in the Northern District were detained until the end of proceedings against them, and 94% in the Jerusalem District, where almost all protestors were Arabs.50 Criminalizing Arab Political Participation and Discourse A further curtailment of the political rights of Palestinian citizens comes in the form of reducing the rights of their political leadership. To stifle the political legitimacy of the Arab representatives and MKs and bring it in line with the dominant Zionist consensus, consecutive Israeli governments have employed a variety of legal tools, including criminal investigations and proceedings as an instrument for political suppression. The political activity of Arab public figures, civil society, and political representatives has been targeted through three main measures: i. On May 15, 2002, the Knesset passed Amendment No. 35 to The Basic Law: The Knesset to prevent any candidates list and any person from participating as a candidate in elections to the Knesset if their aims or actions either “explicitly or implicitly” deny or challenge the Jewish and democratic nature of the State of Israel. The defined character of Israel as a Jewish state has three inter-related components, derived from a prominent Supreme Court ruling on a case further discussed below, called Ben-Shalom v. Central Elections Committee for the 12th Knesset (1988). As Sultany points out, [i]n the leading Supreme Court decision of Ben Shalom, the majority held that the minimal definition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people is based on three elements: a Jewish majority in the state, preferential treatment­of Jews over other groups in returning to their state, and preferential reciprocal treatment between the state and Jews in the Disapora. A candidates’ list that rejects these elements is prevented from participating in elections.51 50 Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, The Inequality Report, 56. 51 Sultany also explains that the majority in the Ben Shalom decision also held that a list that supports a repeal of The Law of Return must be disqualified, and that a list calling for total equality between Arabs and Jews “not only on a personal basis, but also on a national basis” also does not recognize the nature of the State of Israel as a state of the Jewish p ­ eople (2003, 25–26).