Likud says it will request to ban Arab parties from running in elections

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party announced on Sunday evening that it would file requests to the Central Elections Committee (CEC) to ban the Arab-led parties - Ra'am and the Joint List -  from running in the October elections.

The Likud stated that it would file the requests for the parties' disqualifications, and that "there is no place in the Knesset for those who harm IDF soldiers and are unable to say that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations."

The Likud also repeated the claim that rival prime ministerial candidate Gadi Eisenkot was attempting to form a government with the Arab parties and that they were his "natural partners."

The Joint List, made up of the factions Hadash, Ta'al, and Balad, stated on Monday that the disqualification request was a "racist move," and that the attempt to prevent the party from running would not work.

"No attempt to silence us will work. When they try to disqualify us, we will multiply and break through," the Joint List stated.

The Joint List added that "the disqualification request by the crime family known as 'Likud' is yet another rotten and racist move by a party that has completely lost the public’s trust and has brought nothing but destruction and death upon us all."

The party further argued that "Netanyahu knows he is on his way to losing the election, and therefore he will stop at nothing to prevent that moment."

'They are afraid of our influence'

"In recent years, the Arab public in the country has been subjected to a wild campaign of incitement, delegitimization, and relentless attempts to harm its representatives in the Knesset," the Joint List stated.

"They are not only afraid of losing power; they are afraid of our influence, our shared vision, the equality we offer, and above all, the idea that it is possible to live differently here – Arabs and Jews together," it added.

The tensions come as polls indicate that both Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition bloc seeking to replace him lack the ability to secure a majority, suggesting that forming a coalition with the support of the Arab parties could prove challenging.

In 2021, Ra’am joined the coalition during the Bennett-Lapid government, marking the first time an Arab party was a formal member of a governing coalition. The move to include Ra’am in the coalition was highly criticized.

Although Ra’am seeks to rejoin the coalition, most opposition parties in the bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu have rejected the possibility of forming a government with any Arab party. Most of them have said a coalition with the Arab parties would not be viable after the October 7 massacre.

In an unprecedented move, Ra’am announced last month that it would include the first Jewish candidate on its list. It added former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz, a former head of Lahav 433 – The National Crime Unit, to its slate. Under the Bennett-Lapid government, he worked on combating violence and crime in Arab society.

Ben-Gvir seeks to bar Ra'am from running in 2026 elections 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had petitioned the Central Elections Committee last week to bar Ra'am from running as well.

The petition claimed that Ra'am denied Israel's existence as a Jewish state and supported an armed struggle against it.

The CEC can vote to approve the petitions, but similar disqualification decisions concerning the  Arab parties have been overturned by the High Court in the past.

Later on Monday evening, the left-wing Democrats Party, led by Yair Golan, announced that it would file a petition demanding that Ben-Gvir's far-right Otzma Yehudit party be barred from running in the elections.

The Democrats stated that the petition was filed on two grounds against Otzma Yehudit: Harming democracy and denying the existence of the State of Israel as a democratic state, as well as incitement to racism.