Israel’s top court backs barring Palestinian politician from election over article

Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 10/02/2026 - 08:47 Sami Abu Shehadeh withdraws from race after Supreme Court tells him judges are united in upholding his disqualification

(L to R) Palestinian lawmakers Yousef Jabareen,Sami Abu Shehadeh, and Ahmad Tibi attend a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on 1 October 2026 (Ilia Yefimovich/AFP) Off

Israel’s top court has backed barring a Palestinian politician with Israeli citizenship from standing in the upcoming parliamentary election, citing an article he wrote on 8 October 2023.

Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Balad party, withdrew his candidacy on Friday after the Supreme Court recommended he do so on Thursday.

Abu Shehadeh, a key figure in the Palestinian-majority Joint List, was disqualified from standing last month by the Central Elections Committee, a body controlled by the governing coalition.

His disqualification centred on an article he wrote in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on 7 October.

The article, titled “The Al-Aqsa Flood: Preliminary Observations”, was published in Arabic by the Arab48 news outlet on 8 October 2023. It presented a preliminary analysis of the attack and its ramifications.

In it, Abu Shehadeh argued that the “unfolding strategic event” should not have come as a surprise.

“What happened and is happening, up to this moment, is entirely consistent with the law of physics that we all know: excessive pressure leads to an explosion,” he wrote.

“Decades of occupation and blockade, the assassination of leaders, the daily killing of people, and violations against the dignity, property, and holy places of the Palestinian people – all of this could only lead to a reaction.”

“The real surprise is the Palestinian people’s capacity for endurance, until they reached the point of explosion.”

Israeli election committee bans Arab parties from standing in next month's vote Read More »

He also wrote that the attack showed that “Israel and its intelligence services are made up of human beings like us” and could “be prevented from penetrating our countries, parties, and political movements – if there is the will to do so and if we organise ourselves properly”.

He added that for the Palestinian cause to gain politically, “the resistance must involve the Palestine Liberation Organization in all its components in the political process that the battle will open up”.

Based mainly on the article, Abu Shehadeh was accused of supporting armed struggle against Israel and denying the country’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state.

He denied both charges and appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

He said the decision was an attempt to “undermine the representation and political voice of Arab society” in parliament, or the Knesset.

His representative, Hassan Jabareen, said the article contained no “direct call for violence, nor any statements that could amount to grounds for disqualification”.

Judges back disqualification

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit recommended on Thursday that Abu Shehadeh withdraw his candidacy, giving him until Friday to decide.

The court told Abu Shehadeh there was a consensus among the judges to uphold his disqualification, suggesting they would have barred him had he not withdrawn voluntarily.

In a statement, Balad said Abu Shehadeh had decided to step down “out of political responsibility towards our people and the Joint List, and because of the serious repercussions this could have for political and parliamentary work as a whole”.

'This is a Jewish state': Arabic banned at work for Palestinian citizens of Israel Read More »

“Abu Shehadeh fought the legal and political battle all the way to the end against the fascist right and the Zionist consensus,” it added.

The Supreme Court is also set to review appeals against the disqualification of the Joint List and United Arab List, coalitions of parties representing Palestinians in Israel that could play a kingmaking role after next month’s elections, as well as Ofer Cassif, a Jewish lawmaker and outspoken critic of the government’s actions against Palestinians.

The Central Elections Committee, which barred Abu Shehadeh, rejected similar requests against Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism.

Both politicians have repeatedly called for actions against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank that critics and rights groups have described as violations of international law.

Ben-Gvir previously called for people in Gaza to be killed if they did not pose a threat, saying they were “not worthy of life”.

Smotrich has said that allowing two million Palestinians in Gaza to die of hunger “might be justified and moral”. He has also called for the Palestinian town of Huwara to be “wiped out”.

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