Israel Elections Committee votes to disqualify Joint List, Ra’am from Knesset race

The Joint List was barred in an 18-5 vote, with one committee member abstaining.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israel’s Central Elections Committee approved requests Wednesday to prevent the Joint List and Ra’am from competing in elections for the 26th Knesset, while also disqualifying individual candidates Ofer Cassif and Sami Abu Shehadeh.

The Joint List was barred in an 18-5 vote, with one committee member abstaining.

Likud submitted the request against the party, while the attorney general’s legal representatives opposed its disqualification.

Supreme Court Justice Noam Solberg chaired the committee as it considered about 10 challenges against parties and candidates during two days of hearings.

Ra’am, headed by Mansour Abbas, was also disqualified by an 18-5 vote. Three separate requests seeking to exclude the party were submitted by Likud, Otzma Yehudit and the “Choosing Life” forum of bereaved families.

Those seeking Ra’am’s disqualification presented statements made by Abbas and alleged that organizations associated with the party had connections to individuals linked to terrorism.

The attorney general’s representative disputed that the evidence met the legal standard, arguing that Abbas’ statements did not provide an evidentiary or legal basis for concluding that he supported armed struggle.

Separate proceedings resulted in the disqualification of MK Ofer Cassif and Balad Chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh as candidates.

Yisrael Beytenu backed the efforts to exclude both lists and both candidates, saying: “Any Zionist government that is formed must define the elimination of Hamas as a central objective of its security policy. Any party that opposes this has no place in Israel’s Knesset, and therefore we will vote in favor of disqualifying the Joint List, Ra’am, Ofer Cassif and Sami Abu Shehadeh.”

Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset permits the disqualification of lists or candidates on grounds that include rejecting Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism or supporting armed struggle.

Challenges considered during the two-day proceedings also involved Otzma Yehudit, the Democrats, the Religious Zionism list, Zehut, Balad and individual candidates.

Central Elections Committee decisions barring Arab lists or candidates have been overturned by the High Court of Justice in previous elections because of the stringent evidentiary standard required under Section 7A. The latest decisions are expected to face judicial review.