The Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday to bar the Joint List (formed from Arab parties Ta’al, Hadash, and Balad) from competing in the October 27 election, hours after it voted to disqualify Ra’am, MK Ofer Cassif and Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh.
Ra’am, the United Arab List led by MK Mansour Abbas, may appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, which is set to hear election-disqualification cases next week. Unlike the disqualification of an individual candidate, a decision barring an entire party list does not automatically go to the court for approval.
The vote followed three requests filed by the Likud, Otzma Yehudit and the Choosing Life forum of bereaved families and victims of terrorism.
The applicants alleged that Ra’am supported armed struggle by a terrorist organization and rejected Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, two of the three grounds for disqualification under Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset.
They cited alleged connections between Ra’am, the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement, and charitable organizations that the applicants claimed had transferred assistance to bodies linked to Hamas. They also cited statements by Abbas that they argued showed the party presented different positions to Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking audiences.
Ra’am denies allegations of supporting terrorism
Ra’am denied the allegations, arguing that the petitions failed to provide clear and convincing evidence connecting the party to support for terrorism or any other prohibited objective.
Adalah attorney Suhad Bishara, representing Ra’am, told the committee that the applicants had not presented evidence capable of establishing the unequivocal factual record required for disqualification. She also pointed to Abbas’s condemnation of the October 7 massacre and his efforts on behalf of hostages held in Gaza.
Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman opposed barring Ra’am, finding that the evidence did not establish any of the statutory grounds required to exclude it from the election.
The Supreme Court has interpreted Section 7A narrowly, requiring clear, convincing and unequivocal evidence that a prohibited objective is central to a party’s activity. The evidence must demonstrate that the objective is a dominant feature of the list’s conduct rather than a marginal or isolated one.
In 2019, the committee voted to disqualify a joint Ra’am-Balad slate, but the Supreme Court overturned the decision and allowed it to compete.
Wednesday’s decision marked the third disqualification approved by the committee during its first day of hearings. The decisions concerning Cassif and Abu Shehadeh involve individual candidates and therefore require Supreme Court approval before taking effect.
Ra’am Chairman Mansour Abbas responds to disqualification decision
Abbas released a statement in response to the Central Election Committee’s decision, saying, “The Elections Committee’s decision to disqualify Ra’am is a political, improper, and anti-democratic decision made contrary to the position of the Attorney General, based on false accusations and fabrications. We will refute these claims in the High Court of Justice, as we have done in the past.”
He accused Netanyahu and his allies of maneuvering to prevent the formation of “the next change government” by disqualifying the Ra’am party.
Abbas said that the disqualification is an attack on coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Israel, as well as free democratic participation of both Jews and Arabs.
Joint List calls ban ‘attempt by Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, to steal election, disenfranchise over a million Arab Israelis’
The Joint List also denounced the CEC’s decision, saying that it is a “political, racist, and anti-democratic decision, and we expect the Supreme Court to reject it outright.”
“It bears stating the obvious: this is an attempt to disqualify the political representation of over a million voters, who constitute 20% of the country’s citizens,” the party added.
“This constitutes a severe violation of the fundamental right to vote and be elected, and is a direct continuation of the long-standing delegitimization campaign waged by Netanyahu and right-wing elements against the Arab public. Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir know that their only path to remaining in power is by disqualifying Arab representation and suppressing the Arab vote; this is how they seek to pave the way for another term,” it said.
“It is deeply regrettable to see that those who purport to replace Netanyahu are once again falling into the racist trap set by Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir, lending a hand to this political campaign. In doing so, they contribute to the ongoing racist persecution of the entire Arab public, the deepening of racism, and the perpetuation of the rule of Netanyahu and his political partners,” the Joint List said.
“The Joint List is the only party that has made the struggle for democracy for all, true equality, justice, and a comprehensive peace its central mission, and it is the only alternative to the racist policies of Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir,” it continued.
“The Joint List, together with democratic Jewish forces, will continue to fight against political disqualification, continue to fight racism, continue to fight Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir, and will prevail,” it concluded.
Hadash, Communist party ‘fundamentally reject’ decision
Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), also issued a joint statement condemning the decision.
“The Central Election Committee’s sweeping approval of petitions from the fascist right to disqualify slates representing the Arab public and Jewish democratic forces is a blatant trampling of the most basic rules of the democratic game,” they wrote.
We fundamentally reject the very fact that a political committee, composed of representatives from currently serving Knesset factions, grants its members the right to persecute and silence voices that depart from the consensus and oppose occupation, racism, and Jewish supremacy.”
They emphasized that they stood with Abu Shehadeh and his “right to express his views as a leader in Arab society,” pointing out a lack of justification behind his disqualification.
