Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday to disqualify the Joint List from running in elections for the 26th Knesset, approving a petition filed by Likud as part of two days of hearings on challenges to parties and individual candidates.
Committee members approved the Joint List’s disqualification by an 18-5 vote, with one abstention. Supreme Court Justice Noam Solberg chaired the proceedings. The attorney general’s legal representatives opposed the petition against the Joint List.
Earlier Wednesday, the committee also voted 18-5 to bar Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, following separate petitions from Likud, Otzma Yehudit and the Choosing Life forum of bereaved families. Petitioners cited statements by Abbas and alleged connections between organizations associated with Ra’am and individuals linked to terrorism.
A representative of the attorney general opposed Ra’am’s disqualification, arguing that Abbas’ statements did not establish the evidentiary or legal basis required to show support for armed struggle.
Committee members also approved separate requests to disqualify MK Ofer Cassif and Balad Chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh as individual candidates.
About 10 disqualification requests were considered during the committee’s two-day proceedings under Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset. The provision allows candidates or lists to be barred on grounds including rejecting Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism or supporting armed struggle.
Requests also targeted Otzma Yehudit, the Democrats, the Religious Zionism list, Zehut, Balad and individual candidates.
In previous elections, the High Court of Justice has overturned Central Elections Committee decisions barring Arab parties or candidates, citing the high evidentiary threshold required under Section 7A. The latest disqualification decisions are expected to undergo judicial review.
