Israel’s Supreme Court Lifts Ban on Ra’am and Joint List for October 27 Knesset Election

Court Reverses Arab Ban

Israel’s Supreme Court overturned a Central Elections Committee ban on Arab parties contesting the October 27 Knesset election, clearing the way for Ra’am, also called the United Arab List, and the Joint List to run. The court voted unanimously on Friday to undo the committee’s disqualification of the two Arab-majority lists, and it also voted 7-2 to reinstate Ofer Cassif, a sitting Jewish member of the Knesset from the Arab-Jewish Hadash party. The decision keeps Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 percent of the population, in the race after critics accused the committee of double standards ahead of the October 27 vote.

Sami Abu Shehadeh withdrew from the election after Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit told him that a majority of the nine justices favoured disqualifying him and gave him until Friday to withdraw. Itamar Ben-Gvir led the push to bar Abu Shehadeh over an article written after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and Abu Shehadeh described the attack as “an important historical event” while denying supporting it.

Reporting for this sectionAl Jazeera

Withdrawal and Disqualification

Sami Abu Shehadeh announced Thursday evening that he was withdrawing his candidacy after the Supreme Court advised him to do so as a majority of judges favored disqualifying him.

The Anadolu Ajansı report said the Supreme Court heard appeals Thursday from the Joint List led by Yusuf Jabareen and the United Arab List led by Mansour Abbas, and it said the court unanimously decided to allow both lists to participate.

The Times of Israel said the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the Central Elections Committee’s decision to ban Joint List and Ra’am from running in the October 27 election.

The Times of Israel also said the court ruled 7-2 against the coalition-controlled committee’s decision to ban Joint List MK Ofer Cassif from running, even while it said all nine justices objected to Cassif’s “outrageous comments and actions.”

The Times of Israel quoted Yisrael Beytenu saying, “so long as Abou Shahadeh remains head of Balad and representatives of his party are in the Knesset, a terror organization is being represented in the Knesset. We must outlaw Balad.”

Reporting for this sectionAnadolu AjansıThe Times of Israel

Ben-Gvir Fined, Stakes Rise

The Supreme Court also addressed election-law enforcement beyond the Arab lists, with the Central Elections Committee fining National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir 10,000 shekels for a video he posted on the X platform. DW said the Elections Committee ordered the video removed and fined Ben-Gvir 10,000 shekels, and it described the clip as threatening a Palestinian detainee with execution. The Times of Israel said CEC chairman Noam Sohlberg ordered Ben Gvir to remove a video in which the minister, flanked by armed prison guards, told senior Hamas inmate Hassan Salamah, “I want to kill you.”

The Times of Israel added that Sohlberg ruled in favor of petitioners from two NGOs, Choosing Israel and the Committee Against Torture, and it said Ben Gvir was ordered to pay a NIS 10,000 ($3,240) fine. As the Supreme Court cleared Ra’am and the Joint List, the Times of Israel said the court found Friday that the criteria did not apply to the Joint List, described as a merger of three majority-Arab parties, or to Ra’am, described as a historically Islamist party that includes former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz.

Reporting for this sectionDWThe Times of Israel