Israeli Politics · updated 2h ago · 2 min read
Sami Abu Shehadeh Withdraws Knesset Bid After Israel Supreme Court Disqualification Warning
Sami Abu Shehadeh withdrew from Knesset race after Supreme Court warned it could disqualify him. Balad and other Arab-majority parties faced provisional disqualification by election committee.
Whether the court recommended withdrawal or backed disqualification.
5 of 7 outlets skipped it: the Central Elections Committee also barred the Joint List and United Arab List..
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Türkiye Today
“agreed that Abu Shehadeh would accept the court's proposal to withdraw from the Knesset race.”Read the original ↗
Middle East Eye
“withdraw his candidacy on Friday after the Supreme Court recommended he do so on Thursday.”Read the original ↗
How the court’s role is characterised affects perceived pressure versus official ruling.
Abu Shehadeh exits race
Sami Abu Shehadeh withdrew his candidacy for the October 27 Knesset election after Israel’s Supreme Court warned it could issue a ruling disqualifying him. The Supreme Court recommended that Abu Shehadeh withdraw on Thursday and gave him until Friday to decide, with the court telling him there was a consensus among judges to uphold his disqualification. Israel’s Central Elections Committee had voted to disqualify the country’s two main Arab-majority parties last week, and it had also disqualified Abu Shehadeh at the request of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Abu Shehadeh’s withdrawal did not end his political struggle, as Balad said he would remain the party’s leader. The withdrawal followed an article Abu Shehadeh wrote on 8 October 2023, “The Al-Aqsa Flood: Preliminary Observations,” which the court and elections committee treated as grounds for disqualification.
Court pressure and accusations
Adalah accused the Supreme Court of effectively disqualifying Abu Shehadeh by pressuring him to withdraw, saying “A Palestinian leader has been forced out of the Israeli Knesset elections after the Supreme Court made clear it would remove him.” Abu Shehadeh’s representative, Hassan Jabareen, argued that the article contained no “direct call for violence, nor any statements that could amount to grounds for disqualification.” The Supreme Court President Isaac Amit recommended on Thursday that Abu Shehadeh withdraw his candidacy, and the court told him judges would have barred him if he had not withdrawn voluntarily.
Balad said Abu Shehadeh stepped down “out of political responsibility towards our people and the Joint List, and because of the serious repercussions this could have for political and parliamentary work as a whole.” The disqualification centered on Abu Shehadeh’s writing after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on 7 October, and the article’s framing of “excessive pressure” and an “explosion” became part of the case against him.
Broader election fallout
The Central Elections Committee also barred two Arab electoral lists, the United Arab List and the Joint List, which includes Balad, and the Supreme Court was set to continue hearing appeals from those parties on Friday.
Türkiye Today said the Central Elections Committee voted Sept. T23 to disqualify Abu Shehadeh and Joint List lawmaker Ofer Cassif, and it also voted to exclude the Joint List led by Yousef Jabareen and the United Arab List led by Mansour Abbas from the election.
Caras y Caretas reported that the Knesset Central Electoral Committee votes in Abu Shehadeh’s case were 31 in favor and 4 against, while it recorded 18 in favor and 5 against for the United Arab List.
The same source said the Joint List vote was also 18 to 5, and it described Ofer Cassif’s personal disqualification as part of that tally.
As the Supreme Court continued reviewing disqualification decisions tied to the October 27 election, the political fight over Palestinian representation in Israel’s parliament shifted from Abu Shehadeh’s candidacy to the fate of the Joint List and United Arab List.