Israel’s Supreme Court has advised Balad party leader Sami Abu Shehadeh to withdraw from the October 27 Knesset election, warning that the court could otherwise rule to disqualify him.
The development came on Thursday as a nine-judge panel began hearing appeals against decisions by Israel’s Central Elections Committee to bar Arab political lists and candidates from participating in the parliamentary election.
Last week, the Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify Israel’s two main Arab-majority political lists — Ra’am and the Joint List, an alliance involving Hadash, Ta’al and Balad. It also moved to disqualify Abu Shehadeh and Ofer Cassif, a Jewish lawmaker from the Arab-Jewish Hadash party.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster, Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit told Abu Shehadeh that a majority of the judges supported disqualifying his candidacy and gave him until Friday to withdraw. If he refuses, the court is expected to issue a formal ruling on his disqualification.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose Otzma Yehudit party petitioned against Abu Shehadeh’s candidacy, appeared at the hearing and accused him of supporting terrorism.
Abu Shehadeh has denied the allegations. He was accused of sympathising with Hamas and failing to condemn the October 7, 2023 attacks. During the hearing, he said his remarks had possibly been taken out of context and insisted that he was completely opposed to violence.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara supported Abu Shehadeh’s disqualification over an article he published shortly after the October 7 attacks, which she said expressed support for armed struggle.
However, she opposed the disqualification of Cassif and the Joint List, arguing that the evidence did not meet the legal threshold required to bar them from the election.
Analysts have described the moves against the Arab parties as significant. Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group said the attempt to ban Ra’am was particularly notable because the party had previously participated in a governing coalition.
Israeli affairs analyst Shadi al-Sharafa described the situation as a potentially dangerous precedent, arguing that it could result in broad restrictions on Arab political representation rather than targeting individual candidates or parties.
If the disqualifications are upheld, Al Jazeera Arabic bureau chief Walid al-Omari said about 20 percent of Arab citizens in Israel could be left without major representation in the next Knesset.
Israel’s Central Elections Committee is largely made up of representatives of political blocs in the outgoing Knesset. In previous cases, the Supreme Court has overturned the committee’s decisions to disqualify Arab candidates and political lists.
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