The leader of the Balad party, of leftist orientation, the Arab-Israeli politician Sami Abú Shehadé, has decided to withdraw his candidacy for the Knesset elections scheduled for October 27, complying with the suggestion made by a panel of nine judges from the Supreme Court of Israel.
According to his own party's communication, which has made it public through its social media profiles, Abú Shehadé, although "he will continue to preside over and lead the party in the upcoming political battles," resigns from participating in these elections "out of a sense of political responsibility" and in light of "the serious repercussions that the disqualification would have for political and parliamentary work as a whole."
In the same statement, Balad emphasized that "it will continue to counteract attempts to delegitimize Arab political activity in various areas," and reiterated its commitment to "expose these facts to democratic forces, human rights organizations, and international bodies."
The resignation comes after the Central Elections Committee ruled in favor of his disqualification, which has led Abú Shehadé to step aside to avoid a ruling that could set a legal precedent for other Palestinian-Israeli candidates.
The origin of the case lies in an article signed by Abú Shehadé on October 8, 2023, in the full context of the Hamas attacks, which the electoral body has interpreted as a show of support for Palestinian armed resistance.
During the hearings, the parliamentarian has categorically rejected these accusations and has insisted that he condemns violence, but the president of the Supreme Court, Isaac Amit, pointed out that the judges unanimously agreed that his writings were "painful, outrageous, and repugnant," as reported by the Israeli newspaper "The Jerusalem Post." In light of this assessment, the court granted him until Friday morning to choose between withdrawing voluntarily or proceeding to a formal resolution.
With this step back, Abú Shehadé intends to safeguard the political horizon of other candidacies and aspirants who also face attempts at exclusion, among them the Arab coalitions Joint List and Ra'am, as well as the left-wing Jewish deputy Ofer Cassif. The Central Election Committee has also voted in favor of vetoing Cassif —who is accused of questioning the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state— and the Arab lists, in a procedure that the legal NGO Adalah has described as arbitrary and guided by political motivations. It is expected that the Supreme Court will make its final decision on the rest of the candidacies throughout this same weekend.
According to the aforementioned Israeli media, discussions in the high court have taken place in an atmosphere of strong polarization, heightened by the presence in the room of the Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, who tried to interfere in the judges' work and was strongly opposed to offering Abú Shehadé the possibility of withdrawing instead of being directly disqualified.
Political analysts point out that the level of participation of the Palestinian-Israeli electorate will be a determining strategic element in the elections on October 27: a high mobilization could raise the electoral threshold and complicate access to the Knesset for smaller Zionist lists.