Story perspectives

Israel Supreme Court overturns Joint List and Ra’am ban

By Drooid · Oct 2, 2026, 8:03 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Supreme Court Overturns Bans

Israel's Supreme Court unanimously overturned the ban on the Joint List and Ra’am for the Oct 27 election.
The court rejected the ban on Joint List MK Ofer Cassif by a 7-2 vote.
Balad leader Sami Abou Shahadeh withdrew after the court signaled a majority would bar him.
Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his party were fined NIS 10,000 and ordered to delete a prison video.

Summary

Attorney-General Seeks Disqualification

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara asked the Supreme Court to disqualify Abu Shehadeh on armed-struggle grounds.
The petition cited Abu Shehadeh’s Arabic article posted on 8 October 2023 during the Hamas assault.
It also referenced a social-media post praising three men identified as terrorists.
Abu Shehadeh argued the article lacked explicit calls for violence and failed the clear-evidence test.
His legal team Adalah claimed the attorney-general applied double standards to Arab candidates.

History

Historical Context

In 2003 the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the Central Elections Committee’s ban on the Arab Balad party, after the committee had approved the disqualification by a one-vote margin. A similar 26-3 ban in 2009 was also reversed. Those precedents now force the court to reject fresh attempts to bar Arab MKs such as Ofer Cassif.

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Supreme Court Overturns Bans

Israel's Supreme Court unanimously overturned the ban on the Joint List and Ra’am for the Oct 27 election.
The court rejected the ban on Joint List MK Ofer Cassif by a 7-2 vote.
Balad leader Sami Abou Shahadeh withdrew after the court signaled a majority would bar him.
Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his party were fined NIS 10,000 and ordered to delete a prison video.

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