The head of a left-wing Arab party dropped out of Israel’s election after the Supreme Court indicated judges were likely to disqualify him for an article that described the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks as an “important historical event”.
Sami Abu Shehadeh has denied that his remarks amounted to endorsing the attack by fighters who killed 1,200 people and brought 251 hostages to Gaza in the deadliest day in Israeli history. The attack precipitated the Israeli assault on Gaza in which 74,000 Palestinians were killed.
Israel’s Central Election Commission had sought to ban Shehadeh from competing in the election, along with four parties seeking to represent Israel’s 20% Arab minority, and Ofer Cassif, a Jewish Communist lawmaker who supports Palestinian causes.
In a ruling on Friday, the court overturned the other bans, but said a majority had been likely to vote to uphold the ban on Shehadeh, before he withdrew making the question moot. Judges had agreed unanimously that statements by Abu Shehadeh were “painful, disturbing and revolting”, it said.
Abu Shehadeh told Reuters the decision showed that “in the Jewish state, there are two different laws for citizens according to their identity,” saying Jewish far-right figures had not been barred from standing despite remarks that amount to hate speech against Palestinians.
“The margins for political activity, for freedom of speech for the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel, are becoming narrower,” he said.