Balad Party Leader Revises Stance on October 7th Attack

Sami Abu Shehadeh, chairman of the Balad party, has revised his analysis of the October 7th Hamas attack, admitting that his article published the day after the assault was "incorrect in hindsight." He stated that at the time of writing, he did not grasp the full extent of the massacre.

Abu Shehadeh defended his candidacy for the Knesset, rejecting the Central Elections Committee's decision to disqualify him and asserting his intention to remain in the race. When directly asked if Hamas is a terrorist organization, he avoided the specific label but condemned the October 7th actions as "crimes, a massacre, and atrocities."

In an interview with Kan Reshet Bet, Abu Shehadeh reflected on his October 8th article, acknowledging that his attempt to interpret the events then was flawed. "My article after October 7th was unsuccessful, I didn't understand the whole picture," he said. He added that if he had known the scale of the atrocities, he would not have used the same words. However, he emphasized that the article's conclusion opposed violence and armed struggle, calling for a political solution.

Abu Shehadeh criticized the electoral committee's mechanism for disqualifying political rivals, calling the process a "circus" where political parties can disqualify competitors with different worldviews. Despite the disqualification, he stated it was an incorrect decision and that his views should not be judged solely on that one article, pointing to his many other writings.

The interview intensified when Abu Shehadeh refused to explicitly label Hamas a terrorist organization, stating, "I am against terror and I have never called for violence in my life." He reiterated his condemnation of the October 7th events as crimes and atrocities committed by an organization whose policies and activities he opposes. When pressed, he likened the interviewer's insistence to instructing a child, saying, "'Repeat after me' is when you talk to your child in kindergarten. You don't address a political leader that way."