Israel's Supreme Court reverses ban on several Arab parties ahead of election

In a full bench of nine justices, Israel's Supreme Court nullified the Central Elections Committee's Sept. 23 decision to bar four Arab parties and two individual candidates from the upcoming Oct. 27 election. The court held that the criteria for invoking Section 7A of the Basic Law are narrowly defined and limited to the most severe cases, leading to a unanimous acceptance of appeals by the Joint List and Ra’am. Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif was permitted to stand after a 7-2 vote, though Justices David Mintz and Alex Stein argued he should be excluded for endorsing armed resistance.

Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of Balad, withdrew his candidacy after the panel indicated a majority would vote to disqualify him. The original disqualification petition, filed by Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit, cited an Arabic-language article Abu Shehadeh wrote following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which he says does not reflect support for violence.