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.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.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Arab party leader forced to withdraw from Israeli electionslist 2 of 3Flydubai attack gives Netanyahu new security message ahead of Israel votelist 3 of 3Arab-Israeli party leader drops election bidend of listThe 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 withdrawsThe 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.