Supreme Court Hears Petitions on Ra'am and Balad Disqualifications for 2026
The Supreme Court discussed petitions to disqualify Ra'am and Balad ahead of the 2026 elections. Justices noted no grounds to ban Ra'am, while offering Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh a chance to withdraw to avoid a formal disqualification ruling.
During a Supreme Court hearing regarding petitions to disqualify the Ra'am party from the upcoming 2026 Knesset elections, MK Tally Gotliv cited statements made by Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas. Gotliv claimed that Arab parties only accepted the Jewish character of the state under coercion to avoid disqualification. In response, Supreme Court Justice Khaled Kabub reminded her that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party to which she belongs, had previously negotiated directly with Abbas to form a coalition government.
Position of the Attorney General and Legal Arguments
Representing the Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, attorney Anat Goldstein stated during the session that no legal justification was found to disqualify Ra'am. Addressing allegations concerning ties between the party and the "Siyasat 48" organization—suspected of links to Hamas—Goldstein noted that thorough investigations revealed no substance to these claims, adding that it was never proven that supporting armed struggle against the state was a dominant objective of Ra'am.
Advocate Zeev Wolf, representing the Otzma Yehudit party, argued that Mansour Abbas repeatedly avoids designating Hamas as a terrorist organization when questioned. Wolf also dismissed former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitch, who joined Ra'am, as a mere "fig leaf." However, Justice Kabub challenged this argument, asking whether a lack of explicit condemnation constitutes active support, while Justice Daphne Barak-Erez emphasized that the discourse must focus on what a candidate has affirmatively expressed support for.
"What we are hearing is that a kosher Arab list is one that says amen to the creed of the extreme right-wing lists—Section 7A was never intended for that purpose," argued Ra'am's legal counsel, attorney Suhad Bishara, dismissing Gotliv's remarks as a baseless conspiracy speech.
Disqualification Proceedings for Balad Leader
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court also reviewed the disqualification of Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh ahead of the 2026 elections. At the conclusion of the proceedings, the justices issued a dramatic proposal to Abu Shehadeh, warning him that a majority of the panel favored upholding his disqualification and advising him to withdraw his candidacy voluntarily to avoid a formal ruling.
Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit stated that there was unanimous agreement among the judges that statements published by Abu Shehadeh provoked profound revulsion. The court recommended that Abu Shehadeh carefully consider whether to persist with his electoral run or withdraw, thereby rendering a detailed judicial verdict unnecessary.
