Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 22.09.2026
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced today (Tuesday) that there is ostensibly an evidentiary basis for disqualifying Balad Chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh’s candidacy for the Knesset, on the grounds of supporting an armed struggle by a terrorist organization against the State of Israel. This comes ahead of the Knesset Central Elections Committee’s deliberations on a request to disqualify the candidate, which will take place tomorrow and the day after.
The request to disqualify Abu Shehadeh submitted by the Otzma Yehudit party quoted the Balad chairman from October 8 , 2023, when he called the Hamas attack “an important historical event from a military, political and strategic point of view,” and added that “if the besieged little Gaza has succeeded in doing so, others can do it more effectively and simply.” The disqualification motion against him also claimed that Abu Shehadeh called Gaza’s stance a “legendary achievement” and that Hamas terrorists were “resistance fighters.”
Chairman of the Yashar Party! Headed by Gadi Eisenkot, the party announced today (Tuesday) its support for the disqualification of Sami Abu Shehadeh from running in the elections. The party said: “The day after the massacre, when hundreds of murdered and abductees were already known, Abu Shehadeh defined the Hamas attack as ‘an important historical event from a military, political and strategic point of view’ – these things cannot be erased in a clarification post almost three years later.”
In her opinion, Baharv-Miara added that the evidentiary basis in Abu Shehadeh’s case does not correspond to the familiar format for disqualification. According to her, in cases where candidates were disqualified in the past, “this was a very broad and long-standing evidentiary basis that showed systematic and consistent activity to promote the improper goal through dozens of statements and even actions.”
Prof. Barak Medina, an expert in constitutional law at the Hebrew University, also testifies that according to the existing case law, there is no basis for disqualifying Abu Shehadeh’s candidacy. “The perception is that disqualifying participation in the elections is an extreme step, which should be taken only in very rare cases. To date, there is no precedent for disqualifying a candidate for supporting an armed struggle against Israel.”
The Balad chairman’s response to the request, which was submitted through Adalah, stated that the attempt to attribute support for violence to him as a means of promoting a political agenda is despicable and baseless, and contradicts his political work and various statements over the years. According to Abu Shehadeh, he is deeply committed to the universal principles of human rights. In addition, Abu Shehadeh claimed that in the vicinity of October 7 and later throughout the war, he expressed a long list of explicit condemnations of the harm done to innocent people – Jews and Arabs and called for a political solution based on the principles of justice and equality.
There is no doubt that October 7 was a “historic event from a military, political, and strategic point of view,” as it brought Israel not only to genocide but to the brink of the abyss. There is also no doubt that occupied people have the right to armed struggle. Even the UN General Assembly recognizes this right.
Dozens of resolutions by the UNGA support national liberation movements in their struggle for independence and self-determination, including armed struggle. Just for instance, Res. 2105 of 1965 condemned Portuguese colonialism in Guinea-Bissau. At the time of this resolution’s adoption, PAIGC had officially engaged in armed liberation struggle. The General Assembly, in the same resolution, requested all states “to provide material and moral assistance to the national liberation movements in colonial Territories.”
The last ones that can speak of terror are the Zionist leaders and the Zionist soldiers who committed genocide.