Israel's Supreme Court on Friday said that Arab parties may compete in the Israeli parliamentary elections at the end of this month. Arabs make up around one fifth of Israel's population.
The decision overturns a move by the Central Elections Committee (CEC) in late September to ban the Arab parties. The CEC also sought to bar several individual candidates from the race.
What did the Supreme Court decide?
The Court's decision means the United Arab List party, commonly known as Ra'am, and the Joint List, consisting of the Hadash, Balad and Ta'al parties, may run in the parliamentary vote on October 27. The decisions regarding Ra'am and the Joint List were unanimous.
Moreover, the court also overturned a decision to bar Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif from running. Two of the nine judges, however, opposed this decision, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
However, the leader of the Palestinian nationalist Balad party, Sami Abu Shehadeh, was advised by the Supreme Court to voluntarily drop out. The court motioned to Shehadeh that it would uphold the CEC ban on his candidacy.
In an article Shehadeh wrote one day after the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023, Shehadeh referred to the attack as "an important historical event."
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel and abducted more than 250 people.
According to the Times of Israel, Shehadeh told the top court he expressed regret over the article and said he condemned the October 7 attack.
"The same Central Election Committee that disqualified me for an article refused to disqualify all the extreme right-wing racist politicians with all the serious files that were against them," Shehadeh told Reuters on Friday.
He added: "Committing a genocide is considered acceptable and legitimate, but talking about ending the occupation [of Palestinian land] and peace is considered illegitimate."
Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide in the Palestinian territories.
Why had the CEC decided to ban the Arab parties?
The Central Elections Committee is controlled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, which consists of right-wing and far-right parties.
According to the Israeli Knesset's basic law, candidates or parties can be barred from elections to the Knesset if they engage in the "negation of the existence of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state" or "incitement to racism."
The basic law also bars those who show "support for armed struggle by a hostile state or a terrorist organization against the State of Israel."
Parties such as Netanyahu's right-wing Likud or far-right coalition partner Otzma Yehudit have put forward petitions which say Arab parties or various candidates are involved in those aforementioned actions as laid out by the basic law and should be barred.
The CEC, however, has not pushed to bar controversial lawmakers like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his Otzma Yehudi party. Ben-Gvir, for example, claimed in 2023 that Jewish rights outweigh those of Palestinians in the West Bank, drawing condemnation from both the US and EU at the time. He has made many controversial statements and actions since then.
How will the top court's decision impact the upcoming election and coalition talks?
The decision by Israel's top court will have a massive impact in the upcoming parliamentary election, as Netanyahu seeks another term as prime minister.
Recent polls show Netanyahu's Likud party in a close race for the most votes with Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli general who leads the Yashar faction.
However, neither side will likely garner enough votes to form a government by themselves, meaning that coalition talks will need to be held.
The conservative Ra'am party, led by Mansour Abbas, could be the kingmaker in the coalition talks following the vote.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
