Israeli Politics23 September, 20262 min read
Israel’s Central Elections Committee Rejects Democratic Party Bid To Disqualify Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power
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Central Elections Committee rejected disqualification bids, keeping Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power in the race. Panel vote 19-10 against disqualification, per Times of Israel.
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Ben-Gvir Seeks Defense Role
Itamar Ben-Gvir positioned himself to become defence minister in the October elections while Israeli army raids ramped up after an Israeli soldier was injured in a car-ramming near Ramallah.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Saleh framed the bid as part of Ben-Gvir’s move toward the defence portfolio in the run-up to the vote.
Israel’s Central Elections Committee upheld the participation of the far-right Jewish Power party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and rejected requests to disqualify it for the Oct. 27 elections.
The Central Elections Committee decided to allow the party to participate in the Oct. 27 elections in a 19 – 10 vote, with one member abstaining, according to Channel 13.
The opposition Democratic Party, led by Yair Golan, submitted a request to disqualify Jewish Power citing “incitement to racism.”
Disqualification Fights in Panel
The Central Elections Committee rejected petitions to disqualify Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit from running in the October 27 election, voting 19-10 against disqualifying the party. Gilad Kariv told the hearing that “Ben Gvir is not a right-wing Zionist; he is a racist Kahanist who has been convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization,” as Democrats sought to bar the slate. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said there was “no legal basis for barring either party from the election,” as the petitions were argued.
The Times of Israel said the CEC is headed by a Supreme Court justice but composed of representatives of Knesset factions, with the coalition holding a majority, making its decisions highly political. The Central Elections Committee also voted to disqualify the Joint Arab List alliance and the United Arab List, as well as Knesset member Ofer Cassif and Sami Abu Shehadeh, according to the Middle East Monitor.
Elections, Security, and Fallout
Israeli security actions and election politics unfolded alongside a car-ramming attack in the central West Bank, where an Israel Defense Forces reservist soldier, the son of Israel’s Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, was seriously injured at a checkpoint.
The IDF said troops operating at the scene fatally shot the assailant who carried out the ramming, and Israeli security officials identified him as Mahmoud Mohammad Sliman, 29, from the nearby village of Beit Ur al-Tahta.
Dr. Alon Schwartz, the head of the hospital’s trauma unit, said Leiter’s life was “still in danger,” after emergency brain surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Ambassador Leiter posted on X that he was “grateful to the IDF, to the medical team at Shaare Zedek who are now fighting to save the life of Neria Dov ben Chana,” as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Leiter’s family before taking off to address the UN General Assembly in New York.
The Times of Israel and Middle East Monitor coverage placed the disqualification fight over Ben-Gvir’s lists in the same political moment as the election panel’s decisions and the security incidents described in the West Bank.