The Supreme Court today (Friday) published its ruling in four of the main disqualification proceedings ahead of the 26th Knesset elections: MK Ofer Kassif, the Joint List, and Ra'am will be able to participate in the elections.
The proceedings in the case of Sami Abu Shehadeh were dropped following his decision to withdraw his candidacy.
The rulings were given by a panel of nine judges headed by Justice Yitzhak Amit, after the hearing held yesterday. The court published a summary of its reasoning at this stage, due to the timetable set by law for the elections, and clarified that the full reasoning will be given separately.
In the case of Abu Shehadeh, the ruling explicitly reveals the outcome that emerged among the judges before his retirement. According to the court, at the end of the hearing, there was unanimous agreement among the panel that the words Abu Shehadeh said were "painful, outrageous, and inciting.".
Alongside this, there were different positions among the judges, but "the apparent result is the confirmation of the Elections Committee's decision" to disqualify him.
However, this morning Abu Shehadeh officially announced that he had decided to withdraw his candidacy from the Joint List in the elections. As a result, the court ruled that there was no longer a need to issue a ruling in the confirmation process in his case, and the process was canceled.
A different decision was made in the case of MK Ofer Kassif. The Central Elections Committee disqualified him on two grounds: denying the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and supporting an armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organization against Israel.
By a majority of seven justices to two, the Supreme Court decided not to uphold the disqualification and to allow Kassif to run in the elections. Amit and Justices Dafna Barak-Erez, Yael Wilner, Ofer Grosskopf, Gila Kanfi-Steinitz, Khaled Kabub, and Yechiel Kasher were in the majority opinion. Justices David Mintz and Alex Stein were in the minority opinion.
The ruling emphasized that all nine judges disapproved of Kassif's statements and actions, which the court defined as "outrageous" and "disgusting.".
However, the majority of judges determined that they do not meet the strict threshold established in the ruling for disqualifying a candidate, and, among other things, do not form the required "critical mass" of evidence.
On the other hand, Mintz and Stein believed that Kassif's statements and actions directly and indirectly establish the disqualification grounds for supporting an armed struggle against the State of Israel, and that what he said in the past reinforces this conclusion.
The Elections Committee's decision to disqualify the Joint List was also overturned: in this case, the nine justices unanimously decided to accept the appeal and allow the list to run for the 26th Knesset. The court ruled that the materials submitted to the Elections Committee did not meet the criteria established in the ruling for disqualifying a list of candidates.
The same result was also reached for Ra'am: the Elections Committee disqualified the list on three grounds: denial of the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incitement to racism, and support for an armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organization against Israel.
The Supreme Court unanimously accepted Ra'am's appeal, overturned the Elections Committee's decision, and ruled that it was permitted to participate in the elections. Here too, it was determined that the materials submitted to the Elections Committee did not meet the legal threshold required to disqualify a list.
In the summary of the ruling, the judges mentioned that disqualification of a list or candidate can be done for denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incitement to racism, or support for an armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organization against Israel. However, the court reiterated that the right to vote and be elected is a constitutional right of high status and that disqualification is an "extremely extreme measure," and therefore the criteria for its implementation are restrictive.
Response “Choose Life” Forum” On the High Court's decision to approve the RAAM's candidacy: "The Supreme Court's decision to allow the RAAM to run for the Knesset is an extremely serious decision.
""We have presented the court with a broad and well-founded evidentiary foundation, from which emerges material and political support for the armed struggle of terrorist organizations and ongoing ties with entities that transferred funds to terrorist elements. Any additional terrorist financing that will be carried out in the future through the RAAM or the entities and ties that we warned about is directly incumbent on the Supreme Court justices who made the decision. It will be impossible to say that they did not know. The evidence was presented to them and the warnings were stated in the clearest possible way. The responsibility also lies with the legal advisor to the government, who went beyond our warnings.".
""Today's decision proves that the current situation cannot continue. The Voters for Life Forum will work in the upcoming Knesset to amend the Basic Law: The Knesset and to revoke the Supreme Court's authority to overturn disqualification decisions of the Elections Committee in the current format.".
""Not for the first time, the court is abusing the power given to it, emptying the decision of the legislature and Section 7A of the Basic Law: The Knesset of its content, and overturning the decision of the elected officials in order to allow a list that the Elections Committee determined to have disqualification grounds to run for the Israeli Knesset.".
""We have proven that the aid money from the 48 Association of the Palestinian Authority reached Hamas and, in particular, Hamas' military wing. This is not a political matter. This is a security matter. The bereaved families warned before October 7, and they do not intend to remain silent now either."”
Attorney Yitzhak Bem, who represented the Voters in Life Forum: "There are judges in Al-Quds, the process of disqualifying lists has become a political rather than a legal process. Therefore, after they removed Abu Shehadeh from the race, no evidence was sufficient to further disqualify RAAM. On the one hand, its elected representatives will vote in the Knesset, on the other hand, they will continue to transfer funds to terrorism.".
Following the victory in the removal of terror supporter Sami Abu Shehadeh by Otzma Yehudit, party chairman Minister Ben Gvir sent millions of phone messages to all of Israel this morning, congratulating Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh on his removal from the Knesset. "We promised and we kept it," Ben Gvir said in the message, adding that his party, Otzma Yehudit, "will not allow terror supporters and martyrs to operate freely in the Israeli Knesset.".
Ben Gvir began the message with a call in Arabic, "Bara, Bara, Bara," "Out" toward Abu Shehadeh, and said: "Otzma Yehudit succeeded in removing Sami Abu Shehadeh and not allowing him to enter the Knesset.".
He promised not to stop there, and to continue with the removal of other senior Arab party leaders, including MK Ofer Kassif (Hadash) and MK Ahmed Tibi (chairman of Ta'al).
