Israeli election panel votes to bar two main Arab party lists

Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday to disqualify the two main Arab party lists, Ra’am and the Joint List, from the October 27 election, according to Al Jazeera and the Financial Times.

The committee also voted separately to bar Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif and Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh. The decisions are not final: exclusions of individual candidates require Supreme Court approval, while political lists may appeal. Adalah, the legal group representing the parties and candidates, said it would challenge the rulings when the court considers the cases next week.

Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, called its exclusion “political and unacceptable.” The Joint List, an alliance of the Arab-led Hadash, Ta’al and Balad parties, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of seeking to discourage Arab citizens from voting. Abu Shehadeh denied supporting violence and said the decisions would be challenged in court and through public protest.

Petitions seeking the disqualifications cited Section 7A of Israel’s Basic Law: The Knesset, which permits the exclusion of candidates or lists for denying Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism, or supporting armed struggle against Israel. Netanyahu’s Likud party sought to disqualify the Joint List and Cassif and joined filings against Ra’am, while Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit sought to bar Abu Shehadeh. Adalah disputed the allegations and said the Ra’am petition offered no evidence that the party supports armed struggle.