Israel's Central Elections Committee (CEC) has barred all of the country’s Arab parties from running in the Knesset elections in October.
The committee, which is made up of representatives from major political parties, including MKs, voted to exclude the entire Joint List, which is made up of the Balad, Hadash, and Ta’al parties, as well as the Ra’am party.
In the case of the Joint List, the committee accepted a petition from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud faction by a vote of 15-8.
The petition justified the ban under Israel’s Basic Law, which prohibits parties that have voiced support for armed struggle against Israel or “negate its existence as a Jewish and democratic state” from democratic participation.
The committee also voted 30-4 to specifically block Sami Abu Shehadeh, chair of Balad, from running even if his party is eventually allowed to.
It follows a similar decision on Wednesday that barred incumbent Hadash MK Ofer Cassif from running for reelection.
Responding to the decision, a spokesperson for the Joint List said: “It is deeply regrettable to see that those who claim to seek to replace Netanyahu are once again falling into the racist trap set by Netanyahu and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and lending their support to this political campaign.”
Hadash, meanwhile, accused the committee of “blatant trampling of the most basic rules of the democratic game,” claiming that the “fascist right” was seeking to suppress Arab-Israeli turnout as part of a campaign of “political persecution”.
The decision requires confirmation by the Supreme Court, which is widely expected to strike down the bans, as it has done to previous attempts to bar the Arab parties.
Notably, Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, who chairs the CEC, opposed the motion, as did Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
Both, though, lent their support to the motion to reject Shehadeh’s candidature, which could give that decision a better chance of gaining the court’s approval.
The elections are scheduled for October 27.
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