Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Petition by Adalah and Joint List to Ban Weapons at Polling Stations
Last night 25 October 2026, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and the Joint List, which asked the Court to bar polling station officials and representatives of political parties who are authorized as polling station observers, from carrying firearms inside polling stations during the Knesset elections on 27 October.
The petitioners filed the case after the Likud and Religious Zionism announced plans to deploy some 2,000 observers to polling stations in Arab towns and mixed cities, with fears on the rise that observers will arrive armed and intimidate Arab voters, which could also spark violent confrontations. The petitioners referred to previous incidents of voter intimidation involving public displays of firearms, and pointed out legislation in several states in the US, where carrying firearms is prohibited in polling stations. The petitioners warned that the presence of armed civilians could lead to the unlawful use of lethal force, noting the many cases in which security and law-enforcement personnel, acting on a perceived sense of danger, unlawfully shot and killed Palestinians. The risk is even greater, they argued, when the weapons are carried by untrained civilians sent to Arab polling stations as part of a racist incitement campaign that portrays Arab citizens as a threat.
The state argued that the Court had no grounds to intervene in the police’s professional assessment, which found no real threat, no operational need for a ban, and no sign of planned disruption or threats against voters.
The Court accepted the state’s contentions and declined to intervene in the decisions of the police and the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee not to ban weapons. It stressed that the police have broad discretion on security and public order, and that judicial intervention in such matters is reserved for exceptional cases. The Court found that the police had already taken the petitioners’ concerns into account when preparing for Election Day.
The Court handed down this ruling amid public controversy surrounding a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the Israel Police Commissioner to prepare for the upcoming elections. Although the Chair of the Central Elections Committee ruled that the meeting should be held by telephone only and address security-related matters, according to Israeli media reports, the meeting, which took place in person, dealt with matters ostensibly related to election integrity. During the meeting, the Prime Minister instructed the Police Commissioner to pay special attention to “far-left activists.”
Adalah commented in response:
“The state and the Central Elections Committee completely ignored the heart of our petition: armed, organized groups of right-wing activists inside polling stations will intimidate Arab voters. The Committee Chairperson’s decision to let party representatives carry weapons relied on a police assessment made before the Likud and Religious Zionism even announced their racist Election Day campaign targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel. In effect, the Court’s decision allows those taking part in Netanyahu and Smotrich’s provocation to show up at polling stations in Arab communities like armed militias.”
