Israel’s Supreme Court to hear appeals against disqualification of Arab candidates

Israel’s Supreme Court is set to hold a hearing Thursday on petitions challenging decisions to bar Arab candidates and electoral lists from parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 27, Anadolu reports.

Adalah, a Palestinian human rights center based in Israel, said in a statement seen by Anadolu that a nine-judge panel would consider cases involving the disqualifications.

“The decisions to disqualify all Arab electoral lists, Knesset member Ofer Cassif and former Knesset member Sami Abu Shehadeh are unfounded and discriminatory,” Adalah said.

Last week, Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify the Joint List, the United Arab List, Abu Shehadeh, head of the Balad party, and Cassif, a lawmaker from the Joint List.

Palestinians make up about 21% of Israel’s population of more than 10 million. Opinion polls project Arab lawmakers to win 12 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.

Adalah said it submitted responses and appeals to the Supreme Court on Sept. 28 and 29 challenging the committee’s decisions to bar the candidates.

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The center argued that the committee’s decisions disregarded binding Supreme Court precedents and relied on irrelevant evidence.

“The process is also discriminatory, as the committee disqualified all Arab lists while allowing far-right lists to participate despite extensive evidence of explicit incitement to violence against Palestinians,” it said.

Adalah said upholding any of the decisions would “provide judicial cover for two separate and discriminatory tracks for exercising the right to vote and stand for election.”

Under Israeli electoral rules, the disqualification of an individual candidate requires Supreme Court approval before taking effect, while decisions to disqualify an electoral list can be challenged before the court.

Israel’s Central Elections Committee is primarily a political body composed of representatives of parliamentary blocs in the outgoing Knesset.

Seats are allocated according to the size of the blocs’ representation, giving the governing coalition a majority on the committee. The committee currently has 34 members, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

In the past, the Supreme Court overturned decisions by the Central Elections Committee to disqualify Arab lists and lawmakers.

READ: Arab lawmaker criticizes exclusion of Arab lists from Israeli election