Israel's Supreme Court Presses Balad Leader to Quit Ahead of Oct. 27 Vote
Israel's Supreme Court on October 1, 2026 advised Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh to withdraw his candidacy for the October 27 Knesset election, Israel's parliamentary vote, warning it could issue a formal ruling to disqualify him if he refused. Al Jazeera
The advice came as the court began hearing appeals on Thursday against decisions by the Central Elections Committee, the panel that screens candidates and lists, to disqualify Arab electoral lists and candidates. Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit told Abu Shehadeh a majority of judges favoured disqualifying his candidacy and gave him until Friday to withdraw. All nine justices joined the recommendation to step aside, with a deadline of Friday morning to respond. Yahoo
The appeals follow a Central Elections Committee vote last week to disqualify Ra'am and the Joint List from the parliamentary election. The Joint List is an alliance of Hadash, Ta'al and Balad. The committee separately moved to disqualify Abu Shehadeh and parliament member Ofer Cassif, a Jewish politician from the Arab-Jewish Hadash party. On September 23, the committee decided specifically to disqualify Abu Shehadeh's candidacy on the Joint List. Anadolu Agency
The petition to disqualify Abu Shehadeh was brought by the Otzma Yehudit party. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara backed his disqualification over an article he published a day after October 7, 2023, which she said expressed support for armed struggle. She opposed disqualifying Cassif and the Joint List, saying the evidence did not meet the stringent legal threshold. Abu Shehadeh served in the Knesset on the Joint List from September 2019 until November 2022. After the committee ban, he said he would not withdraw and would challenge the disqualification in court. Haaretz
Committee bans checked by the court have a long history, like a filter the court often resets. For the eleventh Knesset, the committee disqualified two party lists, including the Kach list. In another cycle, its chairman cut segments of Ra'am's and Balad's campaign broadcasts that displayed the Palestinian flag. In HCJ 11225/03 Bishara v. Attorney-General, the committee had barred the petitioner from standing, but the court set that decision aside. The court reinstated Balad after its 2009 disqualification when it ran alone. In 2019, the court barred Michael Ben-Ari of Jewish Power after finding anti-Arab racism, while allowing an Arab party to stand. In other cases, it overturned a ban on an Arab lawmaker, ruling she could stand, even as the board at times cleared far-right Jewish candidates while blocking an Arab party. Reuters
The broader context here is procedural as much as political. The court is using an advisory pause, rather than an immediate ruling, to narrow the cases before October 27. The attorney general's split view separates the claim against one candidate over post-October 7 expression from the bids to ban whole lists and a second lawmaker. The question to watch is whether the court treats Abu Shehadeh differently from Cassif, Ra'am and the Joint List, and whether a voluntary exit avoids a written disqualification precedent. The ballot is not yet final. The next step is Abu Shehadeh's answer.
