Ra'am and the Joint List of Hadash, Ta'al and Balad were excluded after 18-5 votes. Jewish Hadash MK Ofer Cassif and Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh were also barred. Far-right bids to ban Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism were rejected. Treat any headline that says the Arab parties are already out of the race as premature.
TL;DR: The election panel barred Ra'am and the Joint List, plus Cassif and Abu Shehadeh. The Supreme Court reviews next and has often overturned similar moves. Far-right parties stayed on the ballot. Palestinian citizens are about one-fifth of Israel. This is not yet the final ballot.
Status note: Checked 29 September 2026 against Al Jazeera's 26 September explainer and Adalah vote tallies. Court timing can shift. Watch the Supreme Court docket for the final eligible lists.
Who was barred, and by what vote
Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas, holds five Knesset seats and is running alone. The Joint List pools Hadash, Ta'al and Balad to clear the 3.25% national threshold. Hadash-Ta'al currently holds five seats. The committee voted 18-5 against each list and against Cassif. Abu Shehadeh was barred 31-4, according to Adalah, the legal group representing them.
Petitions came from Likud and Otzma Yehudit. They accused the lists and candidates of denying Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, supporting armed struggle, or incitement. The committee is chaired by a Supreme Court justice, but its voting members are outgoing Knesset politicians. Rivals vote on rivals. That is why the court step matters.
What the attorney general said
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara opposed disqualifying the two lists and Cassif, saying the evidence did not meet the legal threshold. She took a harder line on Abu Shehadeh over an 8 October 2023 article. The attorney general argued its wording could amount to support for armed struggle. Abu Shehadeh rejects that reading and says he backs a political and civil struggle for equality.
Cassif, whose earlier disqualification was overturned in 2019, said the decisions put another nail in what remains of Israeli democracy and vowed the Joint List would still sit in the next Knesset.
Double standard charge, and what comes next
Attempts to bar Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, led by ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, failed. Both face international sanctions over Gaza and West Bank positions. Critics call that a double standard while Netanyahu remains eligible despite an ICC warrant he disputes and an ongoing corruption trial.
If the court upholds both list bans, Palestinian citizens could still vote for other parties, but their main electoral vehicles would be gone. Adalah plans to challenge. History favours overturns. The atmosphere does not guarantee a repeat.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Israel bans Arab parties from election.