Israel's Election Committee Bars Joint List and Ra'am, Clears Ben-Gvir and Smotrich's Parties

Israel's Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday to bar both major Palestinian-citizen political blocs from the October 27 Knesset elections. The Joint List, an alliance of Hadash, Ta'al and Balad, and the separate United Arab List (Ra'am) were both disqualified. The committee also barred two named individuals from running: Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh and Hadash MK Ofer Cassif.

A Joint List spokesperson told The New Arab the decisions were "political decisions based on racism against Arab Palestinian citizens and anyone who opposes the Israeli occupation." The spokesperson said the list was the only political force in Israel's parliament that opposed the occupation of Palestinian territories and adhered to international law.

"This shows the hypocrisy of those who claim to support democracy but are not willing to accept leaders who call for equality."

According to the spokesperson, the push to disqualify the list originated with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, but every Zionist party in the committee voted for the ban, including The Democrats, a party that has campaigned on support for a two-state solution.

The following day, the committee considered a parallel motion to ban Ben-Gvir's own Otzma Yehudit party along with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism and its ticket partner Zehut. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said that effort had no legal basis, according to Haaretz. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have both faced international sanctions over their rhetoric and policies toward Palestinians and have publicly advocated displacing Palestinians from Gaza and annexing the occupied West Bank.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, is preparing a Supreme Court challenge on behalf of the disqualified parties and candidates, with Tuesday set as the filing deadline. Miriam Azem, the group's International Advocacy Coordinator, said Adalah has documented attempts to disqualify Arab parties or candidates in Israeli elections in 2003, 2013, 2015, 2020 and 2022, so this round was not unexpected. What surprised the group, she said, was the Attorney General's position on Abu Shehadeh's disqualification and the fact that committee chairman Justice Noam Solhberg cast a vote himself, something Azem said had not happened in two decades.

"The Attorney General has taken a completely different route from past Supreme Court precedent," Azem said, adding that Adalah had expected her to act as a check on what it considers an illegitimate process.

Azem said the contrast between the two committee votes speaks for itself. "The message to Palestinian citizens is that they may vote, but not for their own leaders, and that their leadership is cast as the enemy," she said.

In the outgoing Knesset, attempts to oust individual Arab lawmakers over their criticism of the Gaza war and the occupation, targeting Cassif in 2024 and former Hadash leader Ayman Odeh in 2025, both failed to reach the supermajority required. The Joint List said it would fight the current ban "in every possible venue, both political and popular," and urged the widest possible Arab turnout on October 27 regardless of the outcome at the Supreme Court.