The Central Election Committee of the Israeli Parliament decided to prevent Abu Shehade from participating in the elections. Following the application to the Israeli Supreme Court, the judges informed Abu Shehade that "if he does not withdraw from the elections, his candidacy will be cancelled."
Abu Shehade then had to decide to withdraw from the elections.
Abu Shehade, whose candidacy was canceled in the elections, shared his views on the decision taken against him and the elections to be held in Israel on October 27, with the AA correspondent.
"It is clear that Arab votes will determine who will be the prime minister in Israel"
Abu Shehade emphasized that the votes of Palestinian Israeli citizens are key in the elections and said, "According to all the opinion polls conducted in the last two years, it is clear that the Arab votes will determine who will be the prime minister in Israel." he said.
For this reason, Abu Shehade stated that there were efforts to keep them out of the political scene and that concerns increased as the election day approached, and that he was banned from participating in the elections.
Abu Shehade noted that, on the other hand, the Joint List consisting of Hadash, Taal and Balad parties and the Raam Party were prevented from participating in the elections by the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court.
The Palestinian politician stated that although the participation of Palestinian Israeli citizens in the elections is generally low, they carry out activities such as home visits, meeting with young people and use social media and traditional media to increase the participation rate, and said, "We estimate that the voting rate will be very high compared to the last 30 years." he said.
"Netanyahu and his criminal gang will not be able to form a coalition in the coming period"
Noting that Israeli citizen Palestinians have approximately 1 million 200 thousand votes and that 40 thousand votes correspond to 1 seat in the Israeli Parliament, Abu Shehade predicted that if there is 70 percent participation in the elections, Israeli citizen Palestinians will be represented in the Parliament with 14-16 deputies.
Abu Shehade said, "If we reach these figures, (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his criminal gang will not be able to form a coalition in the coming period." he said.
Emphasizing that their strategic goal is to overthrow the Netanyahu government, Abu Shehade said:
"We want to prevent these criminals from coming back to power. These criminals are the toughest coalition we have faced since the Nakba, and we now face an existential challenge, so we will do everything we can to prevent these criminals from coming back to power."
"It's not about changing the person"
Abu Shehade stated that the Israeli opposition did not offer a different political program from Netanyahu and said, "The point is not to change the person, we want to change the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu." he said.
Stating that he continued his political struggle despite being prevented from participating in the elections, Abu Shehade said, "I continue my role in the election campaign, and I will do everything we can to ensure the success of the Joint List." he said.
Abu Shehade was prevented from participating in the elections
The Israeli Central Election Committee decided to prevent Balad Party leader Abu Shehade from participating in the elections.
Jewish Power, the party of Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, claimed that he supported "October 7" in an article published on October 8, 2023, and demanded that Abu Shehade be banned from participating in the elections.
In addition to Abu Shehade, the Central Election Committee decided to ban the candidacy of Hadash Deputy Ofer Cassif and the Joint List formed by the Raam Party led by Mansur Abbas and the Hadash, Taal and Balad parties from participating in the elections.
At the hearing held at the Israeli Supreme Court, while other ban decisions were annulled, Abu Shehade was asked to withdraw his candidacy, otherwise he would be banned from the elections, and the Palestinian-origin politician decided to withdraw his candidacy.
