Excluding Arab Parties Is a Blow to Israeli Society

September 23, 2026 — Israel's Central Elections Committee voted today to bar Israel's major Arab parties from running in the upcoming election.

In a series of votes, the committee voted to disqualify both the Joint List (the alliance of Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad) and Ra'am (the United Arab List) from the October 27 Knesset election. It also voted to bar two individual candidates: MK Ofer Cassif of Hadash and Balad chair MK Sami Abu Shehadeh. 

Israeli law allows the elections committee to disqualify candidates on a number of grounds, including for rejecting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, for inciting racism, or for supporting armed struggle against Israel. Disqualifications by the committee must be validated by the High Court before they take effect.

Hadar Susskind, President and CEO of New Jewish Narrative, said:

“This is an outrageous decision. Palestinian citizens of Israel have the same right as any other citizens to participate in elections and to choose their representatives. Arab political participation is not a peripheral feature of Israeli democracy; it is essential to it.

“The Central Elections Committee has voted to shut out the political parties representing a significant portion of Israel’s citizens from the democratic process. That should set off every alarm bell about the state of Israeli democracy.

“Even if the High Court overturns these decisions, the damage done by the message sent today — that Israel’s Arab citizens can be denied a political voice by the very institution charged with safeguarding its elections — will not be easily erased.” 

Photo Credit: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84868308