Israel's Election Committee Bars Arab Parties While Sparing the Far-Right

Following a busy series of sessions, Israel’s Central Elections Committee concluded its hearings on motions to disqualify various politicians and political parties from the upcoming elections. The committee's decisions highlight the growing dominance of Israel’s far right, as only Arab politicians and a single far-left Jewish politician faced bans. Meanwhile, coalition parties whose leaders have called for the total destruction and resettlement of Gaza were cleared, alongside the Zionist centre-left party, The Democrats.

Much of Israel's opposition supported these disqualifications, even though the Arab bloc could prove essential for forming a future opposition government. Several of the banned Arab politicians previously served in Israel's previous government, a broad coalition that had fostered hope for cross-spectrum political cooperation. Consequently, far-left Jewish politician Ofer Cassif and Palestinian-Israeli politician Sami Abu Shehadeh are barred from running, alongside the party slates of the United Arab List and Joint List. The disqualifications were based on accusations that these parties reject Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, support armed struggle, and incite racism, though all the affected parties strongly reject these grounds.

Israel’s Supreme Court may review and potentially overrule these decisions in hearings expected next week. However, the case against Sami Abu Shehadeh received backing from a Supreme Court judge on the CEC and the attorney general, marking an unusual consensus in a political climate where legal figures are frequently targeted by the far-right. The composition of the CEC reflects the current parliament, giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist coalition a majority. The Supreme Court now faces intense pressure amid the coalition's ongoing efforts to weaken the judiciary.

Adalah, an Israeli legal and human rights organisation, condemned the hearings as an arbitrary and racist process aimed at eliminating Palestinian representation in the Israeli Knesset. Before his ban, Ofer Cassif of the Hadash party warned that the far right aims to silence all alternative voices and secure permanent rule by excluding Arab representation. Conversely, petitions seeking to ban National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party—associated with the banned Kach movement—and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party were both rejected by the CEC.