By Pesha Magid
JERUSALEM, Oct 2 (Reuters) – The head of a left-wing Arab party has dropped out of Israel’s election after the country’s Supreme Court advised him that a majority of judges supported disqualifying him if he did not voluntarily withdraw.
It was the first time the Supreme Court had signaled it might uphold a bid by the Central Election Commission to disqualify an Israeli Arab politician. The rights group Adalah said the court decision set different standards for political participation for Jewish and Arab citizens.
Israel’s Central Election Commission, a political body, had sought to disqualify Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Balad party, over an article in which he described the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel as “an important historical event”.
Far-right parties accused him of supporting the attack, which he denies.
The October 27 election is Israel’s first since that attack, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, the most right-wing in the country’s history, has been stoking fears against parties representing Israel’s Arab minority of Palestinian heritage.
SHEHADEH ALLEGES DISCRIMINATION
Shehadeh told Reuters he had a long record of supporting peace and human rights, which he said the court had ignored.
“The margins for political activity, for freedom of speech for the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel are becoming narrower,” said Shehadeh, adding, “I think the decision shows that in the Jewish state, there are two different laws for citizens according to their identity.”
Israel’s Central Election Commission voted in late September to bar from the election Shehadeh, Ofer Cassif, and four parties which aim to represent Israel’s 20% Arab minority.
On Friday, the Supreme Court said it had overturned the bans on Cassif and the four parties.
Adalah, a Palestinian legal rights centre based in Israel that represented Shehadeh and the other defendants, said he had withdrawn his candidacy to avert a dangerous legal precedent.
“They (the court) would disqualify on the basis of one article, or more specifically one sentence in an article, which is unprecedented,” said Suhad Bishara, Adalah’s legal director.
Shehadeh has said his singling out was part of a racist campaign that aimed to reduce the influence of the parties representing Israel’s Arab minority.
“The same Central Election Committee that disqualified me for an article refused to disqualify all the extreme right-wing racist politicians with all the serious files that were against them,” he told Reuters on Friday.
“Committing a genocide is considered acceptable and legitimate, but talking about ending the occupation (of Palestinian land) and peace is considered illegitimate.”
Following the Hamas attack on Israel, Israeli forces launched an offensive in Gaza in which more than 74,000 people have been killed, according to local health authorities. The campaign has displaced most of Gaza’s population, caused a hunger crisis, and charges of genocide from scholars, rights groups, and an independent UN commission.
Israel denies committing a genocide in Gaza.
In an interview with national media in August, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the killing of “30 to 40” Gazans nightly, saying there were people in Gaza “not worthy of life”.
(Reporting by Pesha MagidEditing by Gareth Jones)
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