Israeli Election Panel Bars All Arab-Majority Parties from October Elections

Currently, Arab citizens make up around one-fifth of the resident population of Israel.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted to bar all of the country’s Arab-majority parties from the Oct. 27 elections, leaving no major Arab list currently eligible to run unless the Supreme Court overturns the decisions.

The committee disqualified the Joint List, a coalition led by Yousef Jabareen and comprised of Ta’al and Balad, two Arab parties, and Hadash, an Arab-Jewish party. The vote came hours after the committee barred Ra’am, an Arab-majority party led by Mansour Abbas.

Hadash said the move was driven by what it called the far right’s effort to suppress turnout among Arab citizens in a bid to remain in power.

Following the disqualification of Ra’am — an Arab-majority party that has pursued a pragmatic, integrationist approach and previously joined an Israeli governing coalition — Abbas said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “understands that the only way to prevent the establishment of a government of change is to disqualify Ra’am.”

ISRAEL BANS ARAB PARTIES FROM ELECTION – APARTHEID STATE pic.twitter.com/GbBhJKrmRw

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) September 24, 2026

Earlier on Wednesday, the committee also voted to bar Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh and Ofer Cassif, a Jewish lawmaker from the Hadash party, from standing in the elections.

The committee voted to disqualify the parties and lawmakers after petitions by Netanyahu’s Likud party and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party.

The petitions accused them of rejecting Israel’s definition as a “Jewish and democratic” state, advocating a “state of all its citizens” and supporting armed struggle against Israel. The parties and lawmakers deny supporting violence. The parties are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, which has overturned similar disqualifications in previous elections.

The Central Elections Committee is chaired by a Supreme Court justice, but is composed mainly of representatives of parties in the outgoing parliament.

Arab citizens of Israel are Palestinians who stayed put during the 1948 war that led to the establishment of the state of Israel. They make up about one-fifth of the population.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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