Israel’s election committee disqualifies Ra’am from 2026 Knesset race

Yesterday 23:35

By: Azzat Manal

Israel’s election committee disqualifies Ra’am from 2026 Knesset race

Israel’s Central Elections Committee has voted to disqualify the United Arab List, known as Ra’am, from competing in the upcoming elections for the 26th Knesset. The decision was approved by 18 votes to five, according to Israeli media reports, and will now face review by the Supreme Court.

The decision follows petitions submitted against Ra’am by several political groups, including Likud, Otzma Yehudit and the Choosing Life Forum. The challenges invoked provisions of Israel’s Basic Law: The Knesset, which allow political parties or candidates to be barred under specific circumstances, including support for armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organisation, incitement to racism, or rejection of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, rejected the allegations through its legal representatives. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the petitions did not provide evidence establishing that the party supports an armed struggle by a terrorist organisation or an enemy state, nor that other statutory grounds for disqualification had been met.

The Attorney General’s office also opposed Ra’am’s disqualification, according to The Times of Israel, arguing that the petitions did not meet the evidentiary threshold required under the law. A representative of the attorney general told the committee that statements cited in the petitions showed Abbas recognising Israel’s Jewish character and that allegations of racist incitement were insufficiently supported.

The vote is part of a wider series of disqualification proceedings involving Arab political parties and candidates ahead of the October 27 election. Earlier on Wednesday, the Central Elections Committee voted to bar Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif and Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh from the race. Those decisions are also subject to Supreme Court review.

Israeli law provides an appeal mechanism for decisions involving party lists. The Supreme Court has previously overturned Central Elections Committee decisions against Arab parties and candidates. In 2022, for example, the court unanimously reversed the committee’s decision to disqualify Balad from the election, allowing the party to participate.

Ra’am has played a notable role in Israeli parliamentary politics in recent years. In 2021, it became the first independent Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition, supporting the government formed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid before the coalition collapsed in 2022.

The latest decision therefore remains subject to the judicial process and does not by itself determine Ra’am’s final participation in the October election. The Supreme Court’s ruling will ultimately determine whether the party can appear on the ballot.

The proceedings have also renewed attention on the participation of Arab political parties in Israel’s parliamentary system. Arab-led parties have contested Knesset elections for decades, while disputes over their eligibility have repeatedly reached the courts.

With the election campaign already under way, the court’s forthcoming consideration of the Ra’am case is expected to be an important legal step in determining the final list of parties competing for seats in the 26th Knesset.