Israel’s Supreme Court overturns election panel ban on Arab parties

Court reinstates two Arab lists and Jewish Knesset member Ofer Cassif as Balad leader withdraws after pressure.

Judges of Israel’s Supreme Court hear appeals against the Central Elections Committee’s decisions to disqualify Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, Hadash-Taal Knesset member Ofer Cassif and Arab party lists from running in Israel’s upcoming national elections in Jerusalem on October 1, 2026 [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]

Israel’s top court has overturned an election panel’s ban on Arab parties contesting parliamentary elections this month, saying the decision had not met the legal requirements for excluding them, according to Israeli media.

The Supreme Court justices ruled unanimously on Friday to undo the Central Elections Committee’s disqualification of the country’s two main Arab-majority political lists – Ra’am, also called the United Arab List, and the Joint List, which is an alliance of Hadash, Ta’al and Balad.

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The decision keeps Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 percent of the population, in the race after critics accused the committee of double standards ahead of the October 27 Knesset vote.

The court also voted 7-2 to reinstate Ofer Cassif, a sitting Jewish member of the Knesset from the Arab-Jewish Hadash party and an outspoken critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, media reports said.

The two dissenting justices said Cassif backs “armed struggle against the state of Israel”, which is grounds for his disqualification.

In September, the elections committee voted to disqualify the Joint List and Ra’am as parties, as well as Cassif and Sami Abu Shehadeh, head of the Balad party, as individuals.

Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Balad party, attends a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on October 1, 2026 [AFP]

Balad leader withdraws

The Supreme Court has nearly always overruled the committee when it votes to ban candidates.

However, at a hearing on Thursday, Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit told Abu Shehadeh that a majority of the nine justices favoured disqualifying him from the election.

They gave him until Friday to withdraw, saying that if he did not, he would be disqualified, according to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.

Abu Shehadeh withdrew from the election after that.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, led the push to bar him over an article written after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. Abu Shehadeh described the attack as “an important historical event” in the piece, but denies supporting it.

Balad said in a statement that a court-ordered removal, rather than a voluntary one, would have had “grave consequences for the country’s political and parliamentary life” as it would set a precedent around the removal of Arab candidates.

The Ra’am 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. Most Palestinian citizens of Israel had stayed out of coalition politics until then.

In this election, Ra’am is also fielding a Jewish Zionist candidate for the first time, Yoav Segalovitz, who won popularity in Arab communities for his work to curb crime as deputy minister for internal security.

The election committee’s September vote drew accusations of a double standard, as Palestinian-led parties faced exclusion while parties led by far-right ministers, some of whom have been sanctioned internationally, stayed on the ballot.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, Abu Shehadeh said he withdrew because he “didn’t have any other choices”.

Although the Supreme Court has restored the Arab parties to the ballot, Abu Shehadeh said the reversal did not make the original disqualifications acceptable.

“In the end, what happened yesterday was a historical catastrophe for democracy, or the very narrow margins of democracy in the State of Israel,” he said. “I was disqualified because I think differently, because I have a different narrative on how to read history, the present, and the future in the place that we live today.”

法院恢复了两个阿拉伯人名单，犹太裔议员奥弗·卡西夫在巴拉德党领导人迫于压力退出议会后，被重新列入议员名单。

以色列最高法院法官审理针对中央选举委员会取消巴拉德党主席萨米·阿布·谢哈德、哈达什-塔尔党议员奥弗·卡西夫以及阿拉伯政党名单参加2026年10月1日在耶路撒冷举行的以色列全国大选资格的上诉。[罗南·祖伦/路透社]

据以色列媒体报道，以色列最高法院推翻了选举委员会禁止阿拉伯政党参加本月议会选举的禁令，称该决定不符合排除阿拉伯政党的法律要求。

最高法院法官周五一致裁定，撤销中央选举委员会对该国两个主要的阿拉伯人占多数的政治名单——拉姆（又称阿拉伯联合名单）和联合名单（由哈达什、塔阿勒和巴拉德组成的联盟）——的取消资格的决定。

名单1/3：被迫退出以色列选举的阿拉伯政党领导人

迪拜航空袭击事件（共3起）为内塔尼亚胡在以色列大选前传递了新的安全信息。

名单中的第三位：阿拉伯-以色列政党领导人放弃竞选

这项决定使得占以色列人口约 20% 的巴勒斯坦裔以色列公民得以继续参选。此前，批评人士指责该委员会在 10 月 27 日的以色列议会投票前采取双重标准。

据媒体报道，法院还以 7 比 2 的投票结果恢复了奥弗·卡西夫的议员资格。卡西夫是来自阿拉伯犹太人政党哈达什的犹太裔议员，他曾公开批评以色列对待巴勒斯坦人的方式。

两名持不同意见的法官表示，卡西夫支持“武装对抗以色列国”，这构成取消其资格的理由。

9 月，选举委员会投票决定取消联合名单党和拉姆党的参选资格，以及巴拉德党领导人卡西夫和萨米·阿布·谢哈德的个人参选资格。

2026年10月1日，巴拉德党领导人萨米·阿布·谢哈德在耶路撒冷最高法院出席听证会。[法新社]

巴拉德领袖撤退

最高法院几乎总是推翻委员会禁止候选人参选的决定。

然而，在周四的一次听证会上，最高法院院长伊扎克·阿米特告诉阿布·谢哈德，九名法官中的大多数赞成取消他的选举资格。

据以色列公共广播公司报道，他们给了他到周五的时间来撤回申请，并表示如果他不撤回，将被取消资格。

此后，阿布·谢哈德退出了选举。

国家安全部长伊塔马尔·本-格维尔是总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的极右翼盟友，他带头推动禁止阿布·谢哈德入境，原因是阿布·谢哈德在2023年10月7日哈马斯发动袭击后撰写了一篇文章。阿布·谢哈德在文章中将这次袭击描述为“一个重要的历史事件”，但他否认支持这次袭击。

巴拉德在一份声明中表示，法院下令驱逐而不是自愿驱逐，将会对该国的政治和议会生活造成“严重后果”，因为它将开创驱逐阿拉伯候选人的先例。

2021年大选后，拉姆党创造了历史，成为首个加入以色列政府的阿拉伯政党。该党参与了一个多元化的联合政府，短暂地将总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡赶下台。在此之前，大多数在以色列的巴勒斯坦公民都未参与过联合政府的政治活动。

在这次选举中，拉姆还首次推出了一位犹太复国主义候选人约阿夫·塞加洛维茨，他曾担任内政部副部长，致力于遏制犯罪，因此在阿拉伯社区赢得了广泛的支持。

选举委员会9月份的投票引发了双重标准的指责，巴勒斯坦领导的政党被排除在外，而一些受到国际制裁的极右翼部长领导的政党却仍然留在选票上。

阿布·谢哈德周五接受半岛电视台采访时表示，他退出比赛是因为他“别无选择”。

尽管最高法院已恢复阿拉伯政党的参选资格，但阿布·谢哈德表示，这一逆转并不能使最初的取消资格决定变得可以接受。

他说：“归根结底，昨天发生的事情对民主来说是一场历史性的灾难，或者说，对以色列国极其脆弱的民主制度而言是一场灾难。我被取消资格，因为我的想法不同，因为我对我们今天所居住的地方的历史、现在和未来有着不同的解读。”