The Central Elections Committee (CEC) said that MKs Ahmad Tibi and Azmi Bishara, as well as Bishara's party, Balad, could not be elected for the 16th Knesset in 2003. Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein agreed with this and had also tried to stop them from being allowed to be elected. The CEC said that they believed that Bishara and Balad wanted "to destroy the Jewish character of the state and supported the armed struggle against it". The Israeli Supreme Court said this was wrong and that they could be elected.