Arab Party Denounces Bid to Disqualify Leader as Political Persecution

The National Democratic Assembly (Balad) party stated on Wednesday that a request to disqualify its leader, Sami Abu Shehadeh, from running for election is part of a "campaign of incitement and political persecution" targeting Arab citizens and their leaders. The party accused Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Otzma Yehudit party that filed the disqualification request, of being behind the move. Balad asserted that Ben-Gvir, who has a prior conviction for inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization, is attempting to dictate who can run for office.

Balad emphasized that Abu Shehadeh has dedicated years to defending human rights and the rights of his people, advocating for freedom, justice, and equality. The party considers his political stances to be part of a legitimate public political struggle for a future of freedom, justice, and equality for both Palestinians and Jews. They highlighted Abu Shehadeh's commitment to peaceful political and civil struggle, his rejection of harming civilians and bloodshed, and his opposition to war and its devastating consequences.

The party further stated that rejecting war and the targeting of civilians is a principled humanitarian stance, just as opposing occupation, oppression, and discrimination while defending Palestinian rights is a legitimate political and national position. Balad warned that conflating these positions or taking political statements out of context to delegitimize them is an attempt to criminalize the Palestinian national stance and use the disqualification mechanism for political exclusion.

Balad also linked the targeting of Abu Shehadeh to previous attempts to disqualify the Joint List and the Unified List, as well as MK Ofer Cassif. The party expressed concern that the widening scope of these targeting efforts, despite political differences among the targeted groups, signals a shrinking space for political action and democratic representation, and an attack on Arab and Jewish voices opposing war, occupation, and racism, while advocating for equality and justice.