Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted 30-4 to disqualify Balad chairman and Joint List No. 3 Sami Abu Shehadeh from running in the October 27 election, accepting claims that he supported armed struggle against Israel and rejected Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state. 

All opposition parties backed the disqualification, along with Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Solberg, who broke with decades of precedent in which the Supreme Court justice heading the panel did not participate in such votes. 

“I thought it would be right to continue in the path of my predecessors and maintain neutrality,” Solberg said. “But alongside the serious statements attributed to Sami Abu Shehadeh, I did not find in his remarks an answer that could be considered satisfactory.” 

Both grounds raised in the petition were approved: supporting armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organization against Israel and negating Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state. 

Solberg said Abu Shehadeh had not adequately addressed allegations stemming from an article he published a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.  

In the Oct. 8 article, Abu Shehadeh described Hamas’ massacre as “an important historic event militarily, politically and strategically” and wrote that others could learn from Hamas’ success in surprising Israel. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party filed the petition seeking Abu Shehadeh’s disqualification. 

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also issued an opinion yesterday supporting his removal from the ballot. The committee’s decision must receive Supreme Court approval before taking effect. 

Abu Shehadeh rejected accusations that he supports Hamas’ attack or political violence and called the effort to disqualify him an attempt to “silence” him and Arab society’s political voice. 

“I have never supported Hamas’ armed struggle against the State of Israel. I condemn the Oct. 7 attack and all the killing that was carried out,” he said. 

Abu Shehadeh said his political activity followed a democratic and nonviolent path under international law. 

“I have never called for violence or terrorism. I oppose armed struggle,” he said.