Election Committee Sets Deadline for Ra'am Party Disqualification Response

The head of the Central Elections Committee for the 26th Knesset, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, has ordered the Ra'am party and the Attorney General to submit their responses to a petition seeking the party's disqualification from the upcoming elections. Ra'am must respond by September 18th at noon, and the Attorney General's position is due by September 22nd at 2 PM. Justice Sohlberg emphasized that no extensions would be granted due to the limited time remaining before candidate lists must be finalized.

The disqualification request was filed by the "Choosing Life" Forum of Bereaved Families. The forum alleges that Ra'am supports armed struggle by a terror organization and incites racism, citing a research document of over a thousand pages, along with findings from the Registrar of Associations, the National Bureau for Countering Economic Terrorism, the State Attorney's Office, and the courts.

The "Choosing Life" Forum stated that Ra'am must address evidence and explain its fundraising for organizations that transferred millions of shekels to entities designated as terror organizations or affiliated with Hamas. The forum urged the Attorney General to thoroughly examine the evidence and join the demand to bar the political arm of the Islamic Movement from the Knesset.