The justices, in a 7-2 vote, also reinstated the candidacy of Ofer Cassif, a far-left Jewish lawmaker who is a persistent critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
(AFP) — Israel’s Supreme Court on Friday restored an Arab party that could be a kingmaker to the election ballot, hours after an Arab Israeli politician withdrew under pressure from the court.
In September, an electoral committee of lawmakers voted to disqualify multiple candidates for the Oct. 27 general election, including those from the United Arab List.
The party made history after the 2021 election, becoming the first Arab party to join an Israeli government when it took part in a disparate coalition that briefly removed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.
On Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously overruled the lawmakers and allowed the United Arab List, as well as another Arab party, onto the ballot.
The justices, in a 7-2 vote, also reinstated the candidacy of Ofer Cassif, a far-left Jewish lawmaker who is a persistent critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
The two dissenting justices said Cassif supported “armed struggle against the state of Israel,” grounds for disqualification.
The Supreme Court has nearly always overruled the committee when it votes to ban candidates.
But at a hearing Thursday, justices suggested they would uphold the ban on Sami Abu Shehadeh, who heads the left-wing Palestinian Balad party. Abu Shehadeh withdrew his candidacy shortly afterward.
His party said in a statement that a court-ordered rather than voluntary removal of Abu Shehadeh from the election would have had “grave consequences for the country’s political and parliamentary life.”
The case to disqualify Abu Shehadeh relies on an article he wrote immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history. Israel responded with a massive offensive in Gaza.
Abu Shehadeh said in the article that the attack was an “important historical event.” He denied supporting the attack.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right ally of Netanyahu known for provocative statements, led the effort against Abu Shehadeh and called his exclusion from the election “a tremendous victory,” although he said he wished the Supreme Court had ruled directly against him.
Arab Israelis, descendants of Palestinians who remained in what became Israel when the state was created in 1948, make up about 20% of the country’s population.
Most identify as Palestinians and, until 2021, had stayed out of Israeli coalition politics.
The United Arab List, known by its acronym Raam, took the unprecedented step in the latest election of also running a Jewish Zionist candidate, Yoav Segalovitz, who gained popularity in Arab communities for his police work to curb crime.
Some analysts expect Segalovitz’s inclusion could make it easier politically for Netanyahu’s rivals to forge an alliance with Raam and its leader, Mansour Abbas, a moderate Islamist and former dentist.
Adalah, an advocacy group for the rights of Israeli Arabs, called the entire disqualification bid an attempt “to delegitimise Palestinian citizens and their parliamentary representatives and to turn racism against Palestinians into electoral propaganda.”
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