Israel’s Supreme Court Clears Two Arab Lists to Run in Elections
The unanimous ruling reverses exclusions sought by Likud and other right-wing groups ahead of the October 27 vote. Justices also cleared Ofer Cassif to run, while Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh withdrew his candidacy.
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Israel’s Supreme Court on Friday unanimously restored the Joint List and United Arab List to the October 27 election.
The court reversed committee decisions that would have excluded the two principal Arab electoral blocs from the Knesset race.
The ruling leaves both lists on the ballot with just over three weeks before polling day.
Their exclusion had been sought by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power and the Choosing Life forum.
A nine-justice panel found that the evidence presented against the lists failed to satisfy the stringent legal requirements for electoral disqualification.
Right-Wing Challenges Rejected
The Central Elections Committee voted 18–5 to exclude each list on September 23.
The committee consists of representatives of parties in the outgoing Knesset and is chaired by Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg.
The challenges relied on Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset.
It permits disqualification for rejecting Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism, or supporting armed struggle against Israel by an enemy state or terrorist organization.
Likud alleged that the parties “harm IDF soldiers” and criticized their refusal to designate Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara opposed the exclusions, arguing that the evidence did not reach the required threshold. The lists appealed through Adalah.
Both blocs described the committee’s decisions as politically motivated attempts to depress Arab turnout.
Different Outcomes for Individual Candidates
The court separately approved Joint List lawmaker Ofer Cassif’s candidacy by seven votes to two, overturning another committee decision.
Although all nine justices condemned his comments and actions, the majority concluded that the evidence lacked the “critical mass” needed to bar him.
Justices David Mintz and Alex Stein dissented, favoring disqualification on grounds of support for armed struggle against the state.
Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh withdrew after Court President Yitzhak Amit indicated that a majority intended to uphold his exclusion.
His withdrawal on Thursday evening ended the proceedings against him.
The panel indicated that it would otherwise have approved the ban, which concerned statements following the October 7, 2023 massacre and earlier remarks about Palestinian terrorism.
Arab Representation on the Ballot
Arab citizens account for roughly 20% of Israel’s population. The Joint List and Ra’am are their main electoral vehicles for parliamentary representation.
The Joint List brings together Hadash, Ta’al and Balad. Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, became the first independent Arab party to enter an Israeli governing coalition in 2021.
Friday’s decision follows a recurring pattern of Supreme Court reversals of committee attempts to exclude Arab lists and candidates.
Previous cases included Balad in 2022 and a combined Balad-Ra’am slate in 2019.
Ahmet Koçak
Ahmet Koçak is a news editor at Clash Report based in Istanbul. He previously served as Deputy Managing Editor at Türkiye Today, helping launch the digital news platform in 2023, and spent three years as Senior Editor at Daily Sabah. His work focuses on breaking news, geopolitics, international affairs, and digital journalism.
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