Yisrael Beiteinu to Back Disqualification of Arab Parties, MKs

The Yisrael Beiteinu party announced on Wednesday that its representatives on the Central Elections Committee will vote in favor of disqualifying the Ra'am and Joint List parties, as well as individual Knesset Member Ofer Cassif and Balad Chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, from running in the upcoming 26th Knesset elections. The party explained its decision stems from a security stance, stating, "Any Zionist government that is established after the elections must define the elimination of Hamas as a central goal in its security policy." Yisrael Beiteinu added, "Any party that opposes this has no place in the Knesset in Israel. Therefore, we will vote to disqualify the Joint List, Ra'am, Ofer Cassif, and Sami Abu Shehadeh."

The announcement comes as the Central Elections Committee begins marathon discussions on Wednesday and Thursday regarding a series of requests to disqualify parties and candidates. Among the requests, three were filed against Ra'am, the Likud party sought to disqualify the Joint List and specifically MK Ofer Cassif, and the Otzma Yehudit party filed a request to personally disqualify Balad Chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh.

Under Section 7a of the Knesset Basic Law, a list or candidate can be prevented from participating in elections if their goals, actions, or statements meet one of the disqualification grounds. These grounds include negating the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, inciting racism, or supporting an armed struggle by an enemy state or terror organization against Israel.