A prominent Palestinian Israeli politician has been forced to withdraw from the upcoming elections over his remarks about the Gaza war, while Israeli far-right leaders have remained untouched despite their incendiary rhetoric and calls for violence against Palestinians. The Israeli political institutions, including the electoral body, have been accused of double standards for targeting Palestinian politicians and parties in Israel. Sami Abu Shehadeh, the leader of the Balad party, withdrew his candidacy after the Supreme Court warned he could be disqualified from the race.
He has described the decision to disqualify him from the upcoming elections as “a historical catastrophe for democracy”. That court advisory came after Israel’s central elections committee barred him from running over comments he made about the war on Gaza. The election, set for October 27, has renewed scrutiny of the challenges faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel seeking political representation.
Experts and critics, including Palestinian rights groups, have accused electoral system staff of applying a double standard in which Arab candidates have faced attempts to remove them from the ballot, while far-right Israeli politicians accused of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians have been allowed to run. So, what happened, and what does the controversy say about Palestinian participation in Israeli elections? Abu Shehadeh is a historian from Jaffa and the leader of Balad, a Palestinian nationalist party that advocates equal rights for all citizens of Israel.
He served in the Knesset from 2019 until 2022. His candidacy was challenged by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over an article published on October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, which he described as “an important historical event”. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara backed his disqualification, arguing the wording could amount to support for armed struggle.
Abu Shehadeh, speaking at the Supreme Court on Thursday, said he did not support “armed struggle”, but acknowledged that a paragraph in the article had been incorrectly worded. The Balad leader said his intention was to urge moving the conflict towards a political process. Last month, the Central Elections Committee voted to bar Abu Shehadeh, Hadash politician Ofer Cassif and the two main Arab-majority electoral lists – the Joint List, which includes Balad, Hadash and Ta’al, and Ra’am, or the United Arab List.
The Supreme Court overturned the bans on the two lists and Cassif. Cassif is a politician from the left-wing, Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party. In the late 1980s, the pro-Palestinian Israeli spent time in jail for refusing to serve as a soldier in the occupied territories.
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