Adalah and the Joint List Petition Israeli Supreme Court to Ban Weapons at Elections Polling Stations
Yesterday, 23 October 2026, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and the Joint List petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to ban persons serving in official observer roles at elections polling stations from carrying firearms during the 27 October elections.
The petition follows an announcement by the Likud and Religious Zionism political party lists that they will deploy some 2,000 observers, mostly yeshiva students from the Religious Zionist movement, to polling stations in what they termed “Arab population centers,” while a police directive permits such observers to enter polling stations armed. The petitioners argue that an armed presence could deter voters, undermine the electoral process, and could even lead to violent confrontations that endanger human life.
The directive, issued on 1 October 2026 by the Israel Police Security and Licensing Division, expressly permits polling station staff and party representatives with a valid firearms license to carry their personal weapons inside polling stations. The Central Elections Committee told the petitioners that the matter falls within the exclusive authority of the police, while the police and the Minister of National Security failed to respond substantively to urgent demands to revoke the directive.
Adalah Attorney Ariel Remez argued in the petition that the Likud and Religious Zionism’s campaign for armed observers constitutes racist and baseless profiling of Palestinian citizens and their representatives, aimed at delegitimizing them. Amid such a campaign, the petitioners warned, armed officials at polling stations could become a tool for intimidating minority voters, undermining their sense of safety and confidence in the elections, and even triggering a deadly flare-up. These fears are compounded by the sharp rise in licensed firearms under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, from about 150,000 to 350,000. In a recent survey, 81% of Arab respondents said the proliferation of weapons in public spaces makes them feel less safe.
The petition stresses that the authorities must protect the constitutional right to vote and to stand for election, guarantee free, equal, and fair elections, and preserve public order and human life. It notes that Texas, Florida, Georgia and other US states prohibit firearms at or near polling places to prevent voter intimidation, even though the right to bear arms is constitutionally protected there.
Adalah and the Joint List asked the Court to order the authorities to prohibit the relevant officials from carrying weapons at polling stations, and to hold an urgent hearing so that the matter can be resolved before Election Day.
Read the petition (Hebrew): https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/d3c66e7c93147b5af3e03dba17db5d63.pdf
Joint List Chairman Prof. Yousef Jabareen stated:
“We will do everything in our power to stop the attempt by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to bring armed settlers into our polling stations. Bringing weapons into polling stations is a dangerous provocation that must not be accepted, and we hope the Court will safeguard the integrity of the elections and protect the right of all citizens to vote without intimidation. They will get our answer at the ballot box, when we, with our own hands, send them home.”
