Adalah rejects the Supreme Court's indicated support for excluding Abu Shehadeh
Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in IsraelLegal organization representing Abu Shehadeh, issuing a statement after the Supreme Court hearing
Adalah condemned the court's indicated support for disqualification, saying there was no legal basis and that the move undermined Palestinian citizens' political participation.
“There is no legal basis for this.”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
The effort to disqualify Sami Abu Shehadeh from Israel's 2026 election
Israel's Central Elections Committee voted on September 23, 2026 to disqualify Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh from the October 27 Knesset election. The dispute centers on whether his writing about the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack meets the legal threshold for supporting armed struggle against Israel. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara supported disqualification. Abu Shehadeh and his lawyers at Adalah challenged the evidence and described the effort as an attack on Arab political representation. At an October 1 hearing, the Supreme Court indicated that a majority favored disqualification and recommended withdrawal, according to court reporting. Balad subsequently announced that its leadership had agreed to withdraw his candidacy while retaining him as party leader. We have not located a final judgment approving the disqualification or an order accepting a formal withdrawal.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
Adalah's response to the October 1 hearing and the ensuing withdrawal. It distinguishes the court's indicated position from a formal ruling.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Adalah reported that the court had signaled majority support for disqualification and proposed withdrawal without a formal ruling.
After the quotation
The organization argued that the evidence contained no call for violence and criticized unequal treatment of Palestinian and Jewish candidates.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Adalah rejects exclusion as legally unsupported and discriminatory. That is substantive condemnation, rather than a dispute over how to describe the hearing.
- Recorded on
- Published here
More from this case
Read the full caseBalad objects to exclusion while announcing withdrawal
Balad
“Using disqualification to restrict Arab political activity and target nationalist positions outside the Israeli consensus. (Translated from Arabic. Original: استخدام الشطب أداةً لتضييق مساحة العمل السياسي العربي وملاحقة المواقف الوطنية الخارجة عن الإجماع الإسرائيلي.)”Read statement
Odeh condemns pressure on Abu Shehadeh to withdraw
“The disqualification of my colleague Sami Abu Shehadeh is the final step in the regime coup. (Translated from Hebrew. Original: פסילתו של חברי סמי אבו שחאדה היא הצעד הסופי בהפיכה המשטרית)”Read statement
Bezalel Smotrich on Abu Shehadeh's proposed election exclusion
“Most of the people in Israel denounce this conduct and want to see the supporters of terror outside the Knesset and outside the State of Israel. (Translated from Hebrew. Original: רוב העם בישראל מוקיע את ההתנהלות הזאת, ורוצה לראות את תומכי הטרור מחוץ לכנסת ומחוץ למדינת ישראל.)”Read statement
Share or embed this statement
The embed keeps its attribution link to The Dispute Index. Credit the image to The Dispute Index and link to the statement page.
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Adalah rejects the Supreme Court's indicated support for excluding Abu Shehadeh
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/4559-adalah-condemned-the-court-s-indicated-support-for
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Adalah rejects the Supreme Court's indicated support for excluding Abu Shehadeh". First published: 2026-10-05. Last updated: 2026-10-05. https://disputeindex.com/events/4559-adalah-condemned-the-court-s-indicated-support-for