Israel: Netanyahu’s bid to bar communist-backed Hadash from October elections fails!

The attempt by Israel’s right-wing and far-right parties to exclude Arab political representation from the October 27 Knesset elections has been overturned by the Supreme Court. 

 

The court unanimously reversed the Central Elections Committee’s disqualification of the Joint List — comprising Hadash, Ta’al and Balad — and Ra’am, clearing both lists to participate in the election. It also overturned the disqualification of Hadash MK Ofer Cassif. 

 

Israeli communists denounce attempts to ban Hadash and Arab parties from October elections

The Communist Party of Israel (Maki) and the communist-led Hadash have strongly condemned the decision of Israel’s Central Elections Committee to bar the Joint List and several of its candidates from the upcoming parliamentary elections, describing it as an attack on basic democratic rights and political representation.

On September 23, the committee voted to disqualify the Joint List, comprising Hadash, Balad and Ta’al, from the October 27 Knesset elections. 

 

Netanyahu’s Likud moves to ban Communist-backed Joint List from October election

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has announced that it will petition the Central Elections Committee to disqualify the Joint List, the electoral alliance backed by Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), from running in the October 27 Knesset election.

According to the Al-Ittihad news portal, Likud said it would seek to bar both the Joint List and the Islamist Ra’am party on the grounds that they allegedly “support terrorism".

 

Israel election: Left alliance Hadash-Ta’al wins five seats in Knesset

Ayman Odeh (right) with Ta'al leader Ahmad Tibi.

The left-wing joint list Hadash-Ta’al, which is supported by the Communist Party, has received five seats in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) following November 1st legislative election which marked the return of the far-right Netanyahu leadership. The ultra-conservative Likud Party won 32 seats in Knesset and is back in government. 

The eight parties of what might be termed the “anti-Netanyahu bloc” – comprising the outgoing coalition parties, together with Hadash-Ta’al and Arab Balad party — attained near-parity, with 2,330,464 votes.