Balad leader Abu Shehadeh to quit Knesset race after court proposal
The Supreme Court’s president said a majority of justices appeared to favour disqualifying him, and rulings on Ofer Cassif and the two main Arab lists are expected by Sunday.
Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Balad party, will withdraw from Israel’s October 27 Knesset election, the party announced late on Thursday, accepting a proposal put to him by the Supreme Court.
Court President Yitzhak Amit said the justices unanimously found Abu Shehadeh’s statements “painful, outrageous and repugnant” but differed on the legal outcome, and that a majority appeared to favour approving his disqualification. The full panel backed the proposal, which spares the court a reasoned judgment, and gave him until 8 a.m. on Friday to respond.
The hearing opened the court’s review of decisions by Israel’s Central Elections Committee on September 23 to bar Abu Shehadeh, Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif and the two main Arab-majority lists, the Joint List and Ra’am. A ban on an individual candidate needs the Supreme Court’s approval to take effect. The court is expected to rule on Cassif and the two lists by Sunday.
The case turned on an article Abu Shehadeh wrote on October 8, 2023. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara backed barring him, saying it expressed support for armed struggle, but opposed the bans on Cassif and the Joint List. “The article contains things that were wrong,” Abu Shehadeh told the court, adding: “I would not say them today, and I should not have written it that way.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister whose Otzma Yehudit party sought the ban, had appeared in court wearing a lawyer’s robe. He welcomed the withdrawal but said “it is unfortunate that the Supreme Court allowed him to withdraw without issuing a ruling on the disqualification issue”.
The Joint List called the court’s recommendation “disqualification in practice” and called on Arab voters to answer with a high turnout. Arab citizens make up around 20% of Israel’s population, and opinion polls project Arab lawmakers winning 12 to 14 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.
Shadi al-Sharafa, a specialist in Israeli affairs, called the bans “a dangerous precedent that did not exist before”, the first attempt to exclude all Arab representation. The court has in past years overturned the committee’s bans on Arab lists and lawmakers.