Balad decided Thursday evening to accept a proposal put forward by Supreme Court justices, under which party chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh will withdraw from the Knesset race. As a result, the court is not expected to issue a reasoned ruling on his case.
The decision was reached after Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit proposed at the conclusion of Thursday’s hearing - with the panel's agreement - that Abu Shehadeh voluntarily withdraw from the race, allowing the court to refrain from publishing a reasoned ruling upholding his disqualification.
Among other considerations, Balad sought to prevent a legal precedent that could allow future candidates to be disqualified based on isolated statements, rather than what case law defines as a “critical mass" of evidence.
The decision capped a day of hearings before an expanded nine-justice panel on appeals concerning the disqualifications of Abu Shehadeh, Ofer Cassif, the Joint List, and Ra’am.
During the hearing on Abu Shehadeh, Justice Alex Stein cited an article Abu Shehadeh published on October 8. “When Justice Kasher and I read the article Abu Shehadeh wrote on October 8, in real time and spontaneously, we learn that he supports terrorism. The explanations given ‘after the fact’ are what is known as ‘cheap talk,’" Stein said.
Abu Shehadeh’s attorney, Hassan Jabareen, argued in response that describing October 7 as a “historic and strategic event" does not constitute support for armed struggle.
Justice Daphne Barak-Erez addressed State Attorney representative Yonatan Berman, saying: “We live in Israel; we know this. There is a legal question of how to reconcile the fact that this is a shocking article expressing a human disconnect from what happened on October 7 - that is a clear determination. But how does this square with the strict, stringent standard for disqualifying a candidate?"
Stein later asked Abu Shehadeh directly: “You have a great many publications in English. Show me one article in which you wrote in English that Hamas is a terrorist organization." Abu Shehadeh replied: “There is no such article."
At the start of the hearing, President Amit emphasized the high legal threshold required to disqualify a candidate. “The power of disqualification is a double-edged sword. Its broad use could severely harm the very democratic values it is intended to protect," he noted.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who filed the original request to disqualify Abu Shehadeh, welcomed the withdrawal but criticized the court for failing to issue a formal ruling.
“We promised - and we delivered! I am glad that the campaign we led resulted in Sami Abu Shehadeh’s withdrawal from the Knesset race following his writings in support of Hamas the day after October 7," Ben Gvir said.
He added: “At the same time, it is unfortunate that the Supreme Court allowed him to withdraw without issuing a ruling on the disqualification issue. Otzma Yehudit will continue to fight with all its might against supporters of terrorism and Israel-haters seeking to enter the Knesset. Abu Shehadeh will watch the next Knesset on Channel 99. Bye-bye, Abu Shehadeh!"