Central Elections Committee chairman and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg has rejected a request to postpone a hearing on Otzma Yehudit’s petition to disqualify Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh from running in the upcoming Knesset elections. Abu Shehadeh had asked to delay the hearing after being injured and hospitalized at Rambam Medical Center. Sohlberg ruled that the hearing would proceed as scheduled, while allowing Abu Shehadeh to participate remotely via video conference.
Otzma Yehudit’s petition cites, among other things, an article Abu Shehadeh published on October 8, 2023, and argues that statements he made provide grounds for preventing him from running for the Knesset. Abu Shehadeh rejects the allegations. The petition is based on Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset, which includes support for an armed struggle by a hostile state or terrorist organization among the grounds for disqualification.
Otzma Yehudit criticized the request to postpone the hearing. “Minister Ben-Gvir believes that Abu Shehadeh is scared, and therefore asks to postpone the hearing," the party said. It added that, if necessary, it would seek to have the proceedings conducted at the hospital, arguing that Abu Shehadeh was aware that the hearing was taking place during the final period in which the judge could hear such cases.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has also submitted her position ahead of the hearing, although she did not take an unequivocal position on whether Abu Shehadeh should be disqualified. She said that the statements cited in the petition “may indicate support for an armed struggle against the State of Israel" and that the Central Elections Committee must therefore consider the request seriously. Recent reporting has described divisions within the State Attorney’s Office over the issue.
Otzma Yehudit responded by criticizing Baharav-Miara for not explicitly supporting Abu Shehadeh’s disqualification. “If, after all the materials we brought against Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, the legal adviser is still unable to announce in the most unambiguous way that he must be disqualified from running for the Knesset, this shows how much she needs to be removed and how unfit she is for the legal advisory role," the party said.
The party further argued that its petition contains extensive evidence and accused the attorney general of failing to take a sufficiently firm position. It said it would continue pursuing the disqualification of what it described as supporters of terrorism from the Knesset.