Israel's electoral commission excludes Arab parties from the election

Israel's election watchdog has banned all Arab parties from next month's parliamentary elections. The Central Election Committee voted this week not to allow the three parties of the so-called United List to vote on October 27th. The reason given was that the alliance had allegedly supported the armed struggle against the State of Israel.

In a separate vote, the committee also excluded Ra'am (United Arab List), a separate Islamist party. The accusation was: supporting terrorism and refusing to recognize Israel's Jewish character. The requests came from Netanyahu's Likud, allied ultra-right parties and a group representing victims of terrorist attacks.

However, the Supreme Court is likely to overturn the decision in the coming days. Traditionally, the legal hurdles for excluding a party are very high.

The election committee, which is made up of sitting Knesset members, also voted by a clear majority to personally exclude the leader of the Balad Party - part of the United List - Sami Abu Shahadeh from the election. The basis was an Arabic-language article that he wrote shortly after the massacre on October 7th. In it he described the attack as a “militarily, politically and strategically important historical event.”

Abu Shahadeh described the decision as an attempt to “undermine the representation and political voice of Arab society.” “I have never called for violence or terror,” he said. “I reject armed struggle and remain committed to the political and civil struggle for peace, justice and equality.”

However, Abu Shahadeh's expulsion was also supported by all major opposition parties - as well as by Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel's Attorney General. However, the lawyer – a staunch opponent of Netanyahu – did not support the remaining applications.

Against “elitist forces”

The exclusion of Ra'am is particularly serious: despite its Islamist roots, the party was briefly part of the government coalition from 2021 to 2022. It also recently announced that it was adding Yoav Segalovitz – a prominent Jewish former police officer – to its list of candidates.

A spokesman for the United List said the opposition parties had fallen into a "racist trap" set by Netanyahu and the ultra-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The fact that the Supreme Court is likely to lift the exclusions could now play into Netanyahu's political hands. The early phase of his term in office before the Gaza war was marked by controversial judicial reform plans; A new conflict with the court could fuel his narrative that he is on the side of ordinary citizens against the “elitist” forces in the state apparatus.

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