Israeli Election Committee to Hear Disqualification Bids

The Central Elections Committee for the 26th Knesset will convene next week to discuss requests to disqualify various lists and candidates from running in the upcoming elections. The hearings, led by Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg, will take place over two days, September 23rd and 24th. The primary focus will be on three separate requests to disqualify the Ra'am party list, submitted by Otzma Yehudit, the Likud party, and the "Bocharim Ba'Chaim" (Voters for Life) forum.

Conversely, two petitions seek to disqualify the Otzma Yehudit list. One was filed by "Zehet, Lishvion U'Zchuyot Adam" (For Equality and Human Rights), and the other by "HaDemokratim" (The Democrats), founded by the Labor movement. Otzma Yehudit has also filed a request to disqualify the "HaDemokratim" list, headed by Yair Golan, and separately requested the disqualification of Sami Abu Shehadeh.

Additional disqualification requests include one from "Zehet" targeting the Religious Zionism list led by Bezalel Smotrich and the Identity list led by Moshe Feiglin. The "Orot HaShachar" (Dawn Lights) party has requested the disqualification of the Balad party. The Likud party has filed a petition to disqualify the Joint List and its member Ofer Cassif.

The committee has stated that full information regarding these disqualification requests is available on its website. Media teams wishing to cover the hearings must coordinate their arrival and entry in advance with the Elections Committee spokesperson's office.