Israeli election committee bans Arab parties from standing in next month's vote - Middle East Eye

Israel's Central Elections Committee voted on Wednesday to ban the country's two main Arab-majority political lists from next month's parliamentary election, in a move that could leave Palestinian citizens of Israel without their principal representation in the Knesset.

The committee voted to disqualify the Ra'am party and the Joint List, an alliance of Hadash, Ta'al and Balad, from contesting the 27 October election.

It also voted to bar two Joint List candidates, Hadash Knesset member Ofer Cassif and Balad leader Sami Abou Shahadeh.

The decision came after the committee approved petitions from the right-wing parties Likud and Otzma Yehudit, which accused the parties and candidates of denying Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state, supporting armed struggle against Israel and inciting racism.

The committee's decisions must now be reviewed by the Supreme Court, which has historically overturned most attempts to disqualify Arab parties and candidates.

The committee is made up largely of representatives of parties in the Knesset, meaning the governing coalition holds a majority.

Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, who heads the committee, can also vote.

The Supreme Court is expected to consider the decisions next week.

While the petitions against Ra'am, the Joint List and Cassif were initiated by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, several opposition parties also backed some of the disqualifications.

The committee voted 18-5 to bar Ra'am and the Joint List, while Cassif was disqualified by 19-5.

Thirty members voted to ban Abou Shahadeh, with four against.

All opposition parties backed the move, as did Sohlberg and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, marking an unusual level of consensus around an attempt to prevent an Arab politician from standing for election.

Baharav-Miara had told the committee a day earlier that Abou Shahadeh's disqualification should be "seriously considered", citing an article he wrote on 8 October 2023, the day after Hamas’s attacks on Israel.

She said the article could amount to support for armed struggle against Israel.

Abou Shahadeh has denied supporting armed struggle.

Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats party, said he backed the disqualification because of Abou Shahadeh's wording following the 7 October attacks.

"Whoever wants a Jewish-Arab partnership does not speak this way, period," Golan said, adding that "calling for or giving legitimacy to armed struggle and harm to civilians - Jews or Arabs - is a red line."

Golan also said he also supported disqualifying the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. A separate petition seeking to disqualify Ben Gvir failed.

In a post on X, Abou Shahadeh rejected the accusations, saying he was firmly opposed to armed struggle and supported a "political and civil struggle for peace, justice, and equality".

Wednesday's vote "is an attempt to harm the representation and political voice of Arab society", he said, adding that he would continue to act out of "a deep commitment to the values of freedom, justice, and equality".

Cassif also criticised the committee's decision to bar him, Abou Shahadeh, Ra'am and the Joint List.

In a post on X, Cassif called the disqualifications "another nail in the coffin of the remnants of democracy" in Israel and said he and the Joint List would be in the next Knesset.

Cassif, one of the Knesset's most vocal critics of the government’s war in Gaza, has previously faced an attempt to prevent him from running. The Supreme Court overturned his disqualification in 2019.

The latest decision against him was based on allegations that he had denied Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state and supported armed struggle against it.

The committee’s decision must also be approved by the Supreme Court before it can take effect.

The court has traditionally set a high legal threshold for disqualifying political parties and candidates, and has overturned numerous decisions by the Central Elections Committee in previous elections.

The attorney general's office had opposed the disqualification of Ra’am, the Joint List and Cassif, saying the evidence did not meet the required legal threshold. Its position was different in the case of Abou Shahadeh.

The committee is due to continue hearing petitions on Thursday, including requests to disqualify far-right parties and the Democrats.

Around 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote in the 27 October election. Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about one-fifth of the country’s population, and the Joint List and Ra’am are the main Arab-majority electoral blocs seeking to represent them.

If the Supreme Court upholds the committee’s decisions, both lists would be excluded from the election.