Joint List appeal at Supreme Court of Israel

According to Zo Khadarek, the hearings were held before an expanded panel of nine judges: President Yitzhak Amit, and Justices Dafna Barak-Erez, David Mintz, Yael Wilner, Ofer Grosskopf, Alex Stein, Gila Kanfi-Steinitz, Khaled Kabub, and Yechiel Kasher. The Vice President, Justice Noam Solberg, also serves as Chairman of the Elections Committee, and it is not customary for him to attend the hearings.

At the end of the hearings, the court will be required to publish a decision by this coming Sunday, October 4, 23 days before the elections. This is the deadline set by law for a decision on the disqualification of the lists: the day before the printing of the ballots, which will take place on Monday.

The Supreme Court President, Justice Amit, said at the beginning of the hearing that "the authority to disqualify is a double-edged sword. There are strict criteria for disqualification that are made in extreme and exceptional cases and as a last resort. The discussions on disqualification requests touch the most vulnerable nerves of society. Emotions are heated and some of the things that will come up in the hearing will arouse great unease. But here a legal process is underway and we expect everyone present in the courtroom to maintain restraint and act with mutual respect."

Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose party is behind the wave of racist disqualifications, claimed that "Abu Shehadeh should not only be disqualified but there should be an investigation against him. They speak Arabic because they don't want this to reach you," and Judge Barak-Erez replied to him that "they speak Arabic because it is their language."

Judge Kabub also read a publication by Abu Shehadeh, in which he said that any harm to innocent people cannot be acceptable in any humane society.

Attorney Hassan Jabarin of the Adalah Center, who represents the petitioners against the disqualification, said in the hearing that "Today we are discussing the disqualification of all Arab candidates and a Jewish candidate. This is indicative of the irrational discussions in the Elections Committee. This is a historic case of a parliament disqualifying all minority candidates." Abu Shehadeh said at the end of the hearing on his disqualification: "I appeal to all the judges and ask to be given the opportunity to be elected again on the basis of what I believe in as a person who fights for the human rights of all people and is interested in promoting freedom, justice and equality for both peoples. I recognize the collective and individual rights of the Jewish people and am interested in promoting peace. This is what I am going to do in the Knesset. I pledge to uphold the law and not do anything that is contrary to the law." According to him, "I have never called for and will not call for violence. I oppose violence. I appeal to your honor again. There were things in this article that I should not have written. All the human aspect that is not there, it is not true. This is not me."

It should be noted that during the hearing of MK Ofer Cassif's case, Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Amit recommended that Balad Chairman and former MK Sami Abu Shehadeh announce his retirement. According to Amit, the proposal was made because there was a majority regarding the confirmation of his disqualification, and out of a desire to avoid a ruling on the matter. The judges gave Abu Shehadeh until Friday at 8 a.m. to announce his retirement.

Before the hearings began, about a hundred activists gathered in front of the Supreme Court calling to prevent the disqualification. The leaders of the Joint List, including Chairman Youssef Jabarin, MK Ahmed Tibi and Abu Shehadeh, attended the demonstration. MK Cassif told the protesters that "we will defeat fascism and it will be thrown into the dustbin of history, we will bring a prosperous future to all of our children, Israelis and Palestinians."