The Central Elections Committee decided today (Wednesday) to disqualify the Ra’am party list, led by Mansour Abbas, from running in the elections for the 26th Knesset. The decision was passed by a vote of 18 in favor, five against, and one abstention, following a particularly heated debate regarding three separate disqualification motions filed under Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset. The party’s political future is now set to be determined by a decisive ruling from the Supreme Court.
The hearing took place as part of a marathon session on disqualification motions, presided over by the committee chairman, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg. The motions were spearheaded by the Likud party, the Otzma Yehudit party, and the “Choosing Life – Bereaved Families and Victims of Hostilities” forum. Even before the vote, the Yisrael Beiteinu faction announced it would stand with those supporting the disqualification: “Any Zionist government formed must define the elimination of Hamas as a central objective. Any party opposing this has no place in Israel’s Knesset; therefore, we will vote in favor of disqualifying Ra’am, the Joint List, Ofer Cassif, and Sami Abu Shehadeh.”
At the start of the proceedings, Justice Sohlberg addressed the complexity of the move, warning that this authority should be exercised sparingly: “Disqualification deprives an entire constituency of the opportunity to cast its vote for a chosen candidate or list.” The hearing itself was marked by unprecedented tension after bereaved family members from the “Choosing Life” forum were initially barred from entering the hall. Only after a direct confrontation with Solberg and assertive intervention by MKs Amit Halevi and Ofir Katz were the family representatives—including Boaz Kukia, Herzl and Meirav Hajaj, and Brenda Lamkus—permitted to enter.
The move to disqualify Ra’am comes just hours after the committee voted—19 to 5—to also disqualify the candidacy of MK Ofer Cassif. However, the decision regarding Ra’am is merely a preliminary step; under Basic Law: The Knesset, the final ruling rests with the Supreme Court. Unlike the disqualification of an individual candidate, disqualifying an entire electoral list carries weighty political and systemic implications, as it effectively erases the parliamentary representation of a broad constituency. Consequently, the Supreme Court has long maintained an exceptionally high evidentiary threshold for applying the grounds for disqualification—namely, negating Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism, or supporting the armed struggle of a terrorist organization.
Ra’am’s case is not unprecedented: ahead of the 2019 elections for the 21st Knesset, the Central Elections Committee ruled to disqualify the Ra’am-Balad list; however, the High Court of Justice overturned that decision and authorized the list to run. The political system is now once again on a collision course, with the Right seeking to defend the Committee’s decision in court, while Ra’am relies on past Supreme Court rulings in an effort to reverse the outcome.