Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh responded to the Otzma Yehudit petition by asking the Central Elections Committee to refrain from disqualifying him over an article praising the October 7 massacre. He claimed that when he wrote the article on October 8, 2023, he was unaware of the full extent of the atrocity.
Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh formally asked the Central Elections Committee on Friday to reject the Otzma Yehudit petition seeking his disqualification from the Knesset. The petition is based on an Arabic-language article Abu Shehadeh published on October 8, 2023, one day after the Hamas-led massacre, in which he described the attack as a "historic event" and wrote that "if small and besieged Gaza could do this, others can do it more effectively and simply."
In his response, Abu Shehadeh argued that when he wrote the article he did not yet know the full extent of the atrocities and that "the full scope of the horror had not yet become clear." Otzma Yehudit, which filed the petition, has called the article incitement and grounds for disqualification under Basic Law: The Knesset.
The Central Elections Committee has not yet ruled on the petition. As The Zioneer reported earlier Friday, senior Justice Ministry officials are divided on whether to support the disqualification request. The final decision also carries implications for legal precedents regarding speech by Knesset candidates in the aftermath of the October 7 attack.
3 developments
- StrongAttorney Yosef Jabarin defends Sami Abu Shehadeh at CEC disqualification hearings
- StrongAbu Shehadeh tells elections committee he did not support armed struggle
- StrongAG representative: lack of article disclaimer reveals candidate's real-time thinking
- StrongYaara Zered says Balad chairman's Oct 7 praise disqualifies him from Knesset
Source and signal
- Open-source intake