Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara indicated on Tuesday that there may be sufficient grounds to bar Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Balad party, from running in the upcoming Israeli Knesset election. The potential disqualification centers on an article Abu Shehadeh published the day after the October 7 Hamas attack, which Baharav-Miara said could be interpreted as support for armed struggle by a terrorist organization against Israel. Under Israeli law, such support is a valid basis for election disqualification.
The issue is set to be addressed by the Central Elections Committee this week during hearings on petitions challenging Abu Shehadeh’s candidacy, alongside other disqualification requests. The committee will convene on Wednesday and Thursday, with proceedings broadcast live.
The petition seeking to bar Abu Shehadeh was submitted by Otzma Yehudit, the far-right party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir. The petition focuses on Abu Shehadeh’s article published on October 8, 2023, in which he described the Hamas attack as “an important historic event militarily, politically and strategically.” The petition highlighted specific language in the piece, including a reference to Gaza’s “legendary achievement” and labeling Hamas operatives as “the resistance.”
Israeli Basic Law on the Knesset allows barring candidates who reject Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, incite racism, or support armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist group. In his article, Abu Shehadeh criticized Israel’s intelligence failure before the Hamas attack, commenting that intelligence agencies are fallible and could be countered through organization and willpower, citing Gaza as an example. Otzma Yehudit’s petition singled out Abu Shehadeh’s statement that if Gaza succeeded in executing such an operation, others could do so more easily.
Attorney General Baharav-Miara, along with State Prosecutor Amit Aisman, noted that the evidentiary basis in Abu Shehadeh’s case differs from previous disqualifications, which typically relied on extensive, consistent evidence spanning multiple statements and actions promoting impermissible objectives. Baharav-Miara acknowledged that Abu Shehadeh’s response to the petition did not eliminate concerns that the article could be read as endorsing armed struggle, especially given the gravity of the events on October 7.
Baharav-Miara also addressed other claims in Otzma Yehudit’s petition. One argument cited Abu Shehadeh’s expressed opposition to Israel’s status as a Jewish state, favoring instead a “state of all its citizens.” The attorney general referenced prior Supreme Court rulings stating that advocating for a state defined by equal citizenship rather than a Jewish identity does not constitute grounds for disqualification.
The Central Elections Committee’s deliberations this week will determine whether Abu Shehadeh will be permitted to stand in the forthcoming election, with the decision carrying significant political implications amid heightened tensions following the October 7 attacks.