Adalah Submits Responses to the Knesset’s Central Elections Committee Opposing Requests to Disqualify Ra’am, the Joint List, Balad, MK Ofer Cassif, and Sami Abu Shehadeh from Participating in the Upcoming Israeli Elections
Today, 18 September 2026, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, submitted to the Central Elections Committee (CEC) its responses on behalf the United Arab List (Ra’am, led by MK Mansour Abbas); the Joint List (led by Yousef Jabareen, composed of candidates from the Hadash/Jabha, Balad/Tajammu’, and Ta’al parties); Balad/Tajammu’ as separate political party; and two individual candidates—MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash/Jabha) and Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of Balad/Tajammu’— to motions seeking to disqualify these lists and candidates from participating in the October 2026 Knesset elections.
The response to the disqualification motions filed against Ra’am by the Likud party, the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, and Choosing Life – Forum of Bereaved Families, argues that the motions contain no evidence whatsoever that Ra’am supports the armed struggle of a terrorist organization or an enemy state, or that any other statutory ground for disqualification has been met. The response emphasizes Ra’am’s principled position, and that of its leaders, which has consistently opposed the crimes committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023. In fact, Ra’am’s chairman MK Dr. Mansour Abbas was active in efforts to secure the release of Israelis held in Gaza, including by maintaining contact with the hostages’ families and working on Israeli, Palestinian, and international fronts to advance their release. Read the response.
The response to Likud’s disqualification motion against the Joint List, argues that the motion is frivolous and distorted, and falls far short of the legal tests set out by the Supreme Court for disqualifying a list. According to the response, most of the evidence cited in the motion consists of old material that has already been addressed in previous disqualification proceedings, and some were already considered by the Supreme Court. For example, several bills cited by the Likud – including Hadash’s proposal to repeal the Jewish Nation-State Law and the Basic Law bill “A Democratic, Equal and Common State,” submitted by the Joint List during the 23rd Knesset – were proposed in previous Knesset sessions but were not cited as grounds for disqualification in motions in previous election cycles. The motion further cites a political platform of Balad which is no longer the party’s platform. Read the response.
Regarding the motion to disqualify the Balad party, filed by the Orot HaShachar (Dawn Lights) party, the response argues that Balad is not running as an independent list, but as one of the parties comprising the Joint List. Despite this, the motion names Balad itself as the respondent, which, according to the response, seeks to create a disqualification track that is not provided for under Israeli law. The response further contends that the motion provides no evidence to substantiate its claims and relies on inaccurate content: “The motion does not meet the administrative evidentiary standard requiring evidence to be ‘clear, unequivocal, and convincing,’ and to rest on a credible and reliable source. It contains no material originating from the party or its members, and makes no reference whatsoever to the party’s activities.” Read the response.
In response to Likud’s motion to disqualify MK Ofer Cassif, MK Cassif addresses the grave accusation that his political activity amounts to “assisting the enemy in wartime,” an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death. According to the Likud, voicing criticism of war crimes committed by Israel constitutes support for the enemy and, consequently, support for armed struggle against the State of Israel, warranting the disqualification of his candidacy for the Knesset. The motion relies on distorted quotations intended to create a false impression that MK Cassif calls for violent acts, as well as on his political activity in the international arena. It claims that MK Cassif’s actions abroad and the criticism he has voiced “had a dramatic impact on the political and security situation of the state” and led to sanctions against Israel. MK Cassif responded that “the ruling party has only itself to blame for the fact that its failed policies have led the State of Israel into the dire diplomatic situation in which it finds itself,” and adds: “The attempt to find a scapegoat to bear responsibility for the government’s criminal acts and failures is a corrupt, fascist practice.” Read the affidavit submitted to the Committee; read the response.
The response to the motion to disqualify Balad/Tajammu’ chairman Dr. Sami Abu Shehadeh, filed by the Otzma Yehudit party and Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, states that the attempt to claim that Abu Shehadeh supports violence as a means of advancing a political agenda is reprehensible and baseless, and contradicts his political record and public statements over the years, and his deep commitment to universal human rights principles. Regarding the claim that Abu Shehadeh’s support for “a state of all its citizens” constitutes grounds for disqualification, the response notes that the Supreme Court has addressed the issue on more than one occasion, and that Abu Shehadeh is bound by the declarations and commitments made by Balad’s leaders before the Court on this matter. Abu Shehadeh also emphasizes that, in the period immediately following October 7 and throughout the war since, he repeatedly and explicitly condemned harm to innocent civilians – Jews and Arabs alike – and called for “a political solution based on the principles of justice and equality for all”. Read the response.
The Central Elections Committee will discuss the disqualification motions and the responses on Wednesday, 23 September 2026.
All motions can be found (in Hebrew) here.
For more on the disqualification process and the way it has been used to delegitimize and incite against Arab political parties and candidates in Knesset elections, see Adalah’s explainer: https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/5e210ded5e4dd77348ba98ef2f7529d5.pdf
