Israeli Election Committee Approves 38 Slates, Bars Arab Parties

The Central Elections Committee for the Knesset has officially approved 38 candidate lists for the upcoming 26th Knesset elections, assigning each a letter for the ballot. The committee, chaired by Judge Noam Sohlberg, made several significant decisions during its deliberations.

Most notably, the committee disqualified the Ra'am and Joint List parties from participating in the elections, citing a clause in the Basic Law: Knesset that prohibits parties supporting armed struggle or denying Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state. Two candidates from the Joint List were also disqualified. The participation of both Ra'am and the Joint List is currently conditional, pending a decision from the Supreme Court.

In another decision, the committee rejected the initial letter choice 'Yeh' for the 'Paradise led by Yeshua Israel Ben David' list, deeming it potentially offensive to public sensibilities. The list was instead assigned the letter 'Heh'.

The approved lists and their assigned letters, in order of submission, include: 'Rak' for Naftali Bennett's list, 'Derech' for Gadi Eisenkot, 'Tzedek' for Leah Sharer, 'Dalet' for 'Partnership for All', 'Tzaf' for 'The Pirates', 'Kaf' for Ofer Vinter's 'Am Yisrael', 'Yod' for 'Israel First', 'Heh' for 'Paradise', 'Kaf-Heh' for 'Women's Voice', 'Dalet-Heh' for Avi Shaked's 'Jewish Arab Shared List', 'Lamed' for Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu, 'Kuf-Tzadi' for 'Justice', 'Nun-Heh' for Naftali Goldman's 'Shema', 'Bet' for Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit, 'Kuf-Heh' for 'New Order', 'Dalet-Yod' for Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha's 'Reservists and Economic', 'Aleph-Mem-Tav' for Yair Golan's 'Democrats', 'Samech-Vav' for Ra'am (conditional), 'Samech-Samech' for the Sephardic Torah Guardians, 'Zayin-Kuf-Heh' for Moti Litner's 'Haredi Public', 'Peh-Heh' for 'You and I', 'Zayin-Tzadi-Zayin' for 'World Covenant', 'Nun-Yod-Kuf' for 'The Correction', 'Yod-Kuf-Heh' for 'Biblical Bloc', 'Zayin' for Simyon Grafman's 'Social Security', 'Bet-Kuf-Resh' for Nissim Louk's 'Dawn Lights', 'Nun-Tzadi' for 'Personal Security', 'Nun-Resh' for 'Black Color', 'Mem-Kuf-Lamed' for Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, 'Kuf-Yod-Nun' for Benny Gantz's National Unity, 'Tzadi-Vav' for Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism, 'Vav-Yod' for Moshe Feiglin's Zehut, 'Tzadi-Vav-Yod' for Rabbi Yoram Abergil's 'My Brother's Movement', 'Bet-Yod-Kuf' for 'Israel House Crossroads', 'Kuf-Resh' for the Joint List (conditional), 'Resh-Kuf-Tzadi' for Rabbi Shlomo Elbaum's 'The Public', and 'Gimel-Yod-Nun' for 'United Torah Judaism'.