Israel's election panel votes to disqualify Arab parties and candidates ahead of October vote

Committee votes to bar Arab parties and candidates

Israel's Central Elections Committee voted on 23 September 2026 to bar both primary Arab parliamentary lists from the upcoming election scheduled for 27 October 2026. The committee, which is composed of Knesset party representatives and dominated by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, approved petitions to disqualify the United Arab List, known as Ra'am and led by Mansour Abbas, alongside the Joint List alliance comprising Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad. In separate ballots on the same day, the panel voted to exclude individual lawmakers, barring Hadash legislator Ofer Cassif and Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh from running. The panel approved the disqualifications of Ra'am and the Hadash-Ta'al slate by identical 18 to 5 tallies.

Legal petitions and Supreme Court review

The petitions to disqualify the parties and lawmakers were filed by Netanyahu's Likud party, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party, and an organization representing victims of militant attacks. The filings invoked Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset, which allows the exclusion of candidates or parties for denying Israel's status as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism, or supporting armed struggle against Israel by an enemy state or terrorist organization. Likud targeted Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif for describing Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip over the past three years as genocide, while Otzma Yehudit petitioned to bar Abu Shehadeh. Ra'am was accused of inciting racism and backing armed struggle, accusations the party rejected.

Abu Shehadeh rejected the allegations in comments following the committee's decision:

I have never called for violence or terrorism. I oppose armed struggle.

Adalah, the legal center representing the disqualified parties and candidates, announced plans to contest the exclusions before the Supreme Court of Israel next week. The Attorney General of Israel, Gali Baharav-Miara, opposed the exclusion of Ra'am prior to the committee vote. Supreme Court confirmation is required for individual disqualifications to take effect, while political lists possess the right to appeal committee exclusions directly to the court.

Coalition math and electoral impact

The committee decisions affect the political representation of Arab citizens of Israel, who make up about 20% of the country's population, representing more than 1.25 million voters according to Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen. Opinion polling indicates that neither Netanyahu's coalition nor the Zionist opposition bloc currently commands the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Ra'am is projected in polling to secure between 5 and 6 seats, positioning the party as a potential deciding factor in forming a government.

Ra'am previously joined the governing coalition formed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid in 2021, becoming the first independent Arab party to participate in an Israeli governing majority. Ahead of the October ballot, party leader Mansour Abbas added Yoav Segalovitz, a Jewish Israeli and former deputy police minister, as the second candidate on the Ra'am electoral list. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who is 76 years old and has headed Israeli governments for more than 18 years, is seeking re-election while campaigning to assemble a broad coalition after the vote.