Israel top court puts Arab parties back on ballot

JERUSALEM: Israel's Supreme Court on Friday (Oct 2) put back on the election ballot an Arab party that could be a kingmaker, hours after one Arab-Israeli politician withdrew under court pressure.

In September, an electoral committee of MPs voted to disqualify multiple candidates for the Oct 27 general election, including those from the United Arab List.

The 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.

On Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously overruled the lawmakers and allowed the United Arab List as well as another Arab party onto the ballot.

The justices, in a 7-2 vote, also reinstated the candidacy of Ofer Cassif, a far-left Jewish MP who is a relentless critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

The two dissenting justices said that Cassif supported "armed struggle against the state of Israel", grounds for disqualification.

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

But at a hearing Thursday, justices suggested they would back the ban on Sami Abu Shehadeh, who heads the left-wing Palestinian Balad Party. Abu Shehadeh withdrew his candidacy shortly after.

His party in a statement said that a court-ordered rather than voluntary removal of Abu Shehadeh from the election would have had "grave consequences for the country's political and parliamentary life".

The case to disqualify Abu Shehadeh relies on an article he wrote immediately after Hamas's attack on Oct 7, 2023, the deadliest in the history of Israel, which responded with a massive offensive in Gaza.

Abu Shehadeh in the article said that the attack was an "important historical event". He denied he was supporting the attack.