Attorney-General pushes for Israel's Supreme Court to ban leader of Arab party Balad from election

The Supreme Court is reviewing the Central Elections Committee’s September 23 decision to disqualify Abu Shehadeh, as required before the disqualification of an individual candidate can become final.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara has asked the Supreme Court to approve the disqualification of Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh from the upcoming election, according to a position filed on Tuesday and published on Wednesday. 

The Justice Ministry announced the position in the names of Baharav-Miara and chief prosecutor Amit Aisman.

In the filing, submitted ahead of Thursday’s hearings on candidate and party disqualifications, the attorney-general asserted that Abu Shehadeh meets the legal threshold for disqualification, specifically on the grounds that he supported an armed struggle by a terrorist organization against the State of Israel.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the Central Elections Committee’s September 23 decision to disqualify Abu Shehadeh, as required before the disqualification of an individual candidate can become final.

Disqualification of Abu Shehadeh on the grounds of Basic Law

At the heart of the matter is Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset. It establishes three grounds for disqualifying a candidate or electoral list: negating Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state; incitement to racism; and supporting an armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organization against Israel.

The Elections Committee disqualified Abu Shehadeh on the first and third grounds. Baharav-Miara, however, asked the court to approve his disqualification only on the armed-struggle ground and to overturn the committee’s decision concerning Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state.

The filing centered on an Arabic-language article Abu Shehadeh published on two news sites on October 8, 2023, while the Hamas-led attack was still underway.