The Israeli Supreme Court allows Arab candidates and lists to run for the Knesset

Regarding Abu Shehadeh, there was a consensus among the judges that his statements were painful, provocative and disgusting, and the crystallized result was to support the Election Commission’s decision to exclude him, before he announced this morning that he was withdrawing his candidacy, so the court decided to cancel the procedure.

Regarding Knesset member Ofer Cassif, the Central Elections Committee excluded him on charges of denying the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and supporting the armed struggle of a hostile state or terrorist organization against Israel.

By a majority of seven judges to two, the Supreme Court decided not to uphold the exclusion and allow Kasev to run.

The ruling stressed that all judges had reservations about Kasev's statements and actions, describing them as provocative and disgusting, but the majority judges decided that they did not reach the strict threshold specified in judicial precedents to disqualify a candidate.

The Election Commission also canceled the decision to exclude the Joint List, and the nine judges unanimously decided to accept the appeal and allow the list to run, because the materials submitted did not meet the specified criteria for excluding a list of candidates.

A similar result was achieved with regard to Raam, who was excluded by the committee on charges of denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incitement to racism, and supporting armed struggle against Israel. The court unanimously accepted her appeal and overturned the committee's decision.

The judges reminded in the summary of the ruling that the exclusion of a list or candidate could be done due to denial of the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incitement to racism, or support for the armed struggle of a hostile state or terrorist organization against Israel, but they reaffirmed that the right to vote and run is a constitutional right of high status, and that exclusion is an extremely extreme step, and therefore the criteria for its application are limited.