Israel’s Central Elections Committee has voted to bar the country’s two main Arab-majority political lists from next month’s parliamentary election, while also disqualifying two prominent candidates.
The decision could leave Palestinian citizens of Israel without their principal political representatives in the Knesset, although the Supreme Court is expected to review the rulings next week. The election is due to take place on October 27.
The committee voted 18-5 against Ra’am, also known as the United Arab List, and by the same margin against the Joint List, an alliance of Hadash, Balad and Ta’al. It also voted to exclude Ofer Cassif, a Jewish politician with Hadash, and Sami Abu Shehadeh, the leader of Balad.
Why Israel’s Arab parties were barred
The petitions were brought by the right-wing Likud and Otzma Yehudit parties. They accused the lists and candidates of denying Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, supporting armed struggle against Israel or inciting racism.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara opposed the disqualification of Ra’am, the Joint List and Mr Cassif, arguing that the evidence did not meet the legal threshold. She took a different view of the case against Mr Abu Shehadeh.
That case partly centres on an article he wrote on October 8 2023, the day after Hamas’s attacks on Israel. The article described the attack as “an important historic event militarily, politically and strategically”, which the attorney general said could amount to support for armed struggle.
Mr Abu Shehadeh rejected that interpretation, saying he opposed armed struggle and supported a “political and civil struggle for peace, justice, and equality”. Adalah, the Palestinian legal rights group representing the lists and candidates, said the article contained no call for violence and planned to challenge the decisions in the Supreme Court.
The parties facing exclusion
The Joint List combines three parties with differing political emphases. Hadash is a left-wing Arab-Jewish party, Ta’al focuses primarily on the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel, while Balad advocates a state offering equal rights to all its citizens.
Running together allows the parties to pool their support and reduce the risk of falling below the 3.25 per cent threshold required to win seats in the Knesset. Hadash-Ta’al currently holds five seats, while Balad has none.
Ra’am is contesting the election separately under the leadership of Mansour Abbas. It has been more willing to negotiate with other parties over funding and services for Arab communities and joined the broad coalition that governed Israel between 2021 and 2022. It currently holds five seats.
Palestinian citizens make up about one-fifth of Israel’s population. If the Supreme Court upholds the committee’s decisions, voters will still be able to support other parties, but neither of the two main Arab-majority lists would be permitted to stand.
Far-right parties remain eligible
The committee rejected petitions seeking to disqualify Otzma Yehudit, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Religious Zionism, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Both ministers have advocated the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and the annexation of the occupied West Bank, and face international sanctions over their actions and rhetoric towards Palestinians. The attorney general said the bids to bar their parties lacked a legal basis.
The contrast prompted accusations of double standards. Human rights advocate Ubai Al-Aboudi said the committee had decided not to bar politicians and parties “that are openly calling for the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians”, adding that it showed Palestinians were still being treated as “a demographic threat”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also remains eligible to run. He is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, as well as a corruption trial that began in 2020. Mr Netanyahu denies the allegations.
The Central Elections Committee is chaired by a Supreme Court justice, but its voting members represent parties in the outgoing Knesset. Previous attempts to exclude Arab parties and candidates, including a disqualification of Mr Cassif overturned in 2019, have been reversed by the Supreme Court.
Mr Cassif described the latest decisions as “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. The Supreme Court will now decide whether the four candidates and lists can contest the election.
