Attorney General advise to Supreme Court: Abu Shehadeh should be disqualified from elections

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Prosecutor Amit Isman informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the disqualification of Knesset candidate Sami Abu Shehadeh should be approved. They believe Shehadeh is in support of armed struggle against Israel, including during the October 7th attack.

"At the core of the grounds for disqualification"

The statement said: "The article published by Abu Shehadeh on 8.10.23, a day after the murderous terrorist attack began and while it was still ongoing, expresses a position of support for the armed struggle of the terrorist organization Hamas against the State of Israel. Shehadeh's conduct stands at the core of the grounds for disqualification outlined in the Basic Law: The Knesset."

The Attorney General and the State Attorney added that "the explanations that Shahadeh gave after the fact for the harsh statements included in the article he published on 8.10, the additional evidence presented, and his overall conduct, are naive, partial, and do not address the main allegations raised against him."

This position constitutes a reversal compared to the initial position submitted by Baharav-Miara and Isman to the Central Elections Committee about a week ago, where they refrained from making an explicit recommendation for or against his disqualification. Nevertheless, they did note that Shehadeh's written response "does not provide sufficient assurance that his article did not reflect an expression of support for an armed struggle against Israel, at an extremely grave time." Therefore, they said, the committee should "seriously consider" the disqualification request.

The Central Elections Committee, headed by Judge Noam Sohlberg, ultimately decided to approve Otzma Yehudit’s request to disqualify Abu Shehadeh, alongside the disqualification of Cassif, Ra’am, and the Joint List. The committee’s decision will now be reviewed by the Supreme Court, where a hearing is expected to take place on Thursday.

Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing, attorneys Ze’ev Wolf and David Bavli, on behalf of the Minister for National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and the Otzma Yehudit party list, submitted an unusual request to add evidence concerning Abu Shehadeh. The request claimed that after the Election Committee’s decision to disqualify him, and in light of what were described as "his feigned innocence" and denials, the petitioners located additional evidence "proving beyond any doubt that he lied to the Election Committee and continued to support Hamas throughout the war."

Among the evidence attached to the request: a video of Abu Shehadeh from three days after the massacre, which was posted on his social media accounts, in which he describes the massacre as "a Palestinian issue that underwent a significant political-strategic event, a very major political event." Shehadeh went on to attack Israel and not condemn the massacre or the soldiers who were killed, but rather praising the "martyrs" and only the residents of the Negev.

A podcast transcript was also attached, in which Abu Shehadeh referred to the war waged by Hamas in Israel as "steadfast resistance" and "something legendary," as well as a video from the opening rally of the Balad conference, in which Abu Shehadeh mocks Israel: "They went on and on at us about October 7th, October 7th, October 7th, and October 7th."

According to the claim, he justifies the massacre by stating that "history did not begin on October 7," and that the attack was "a result of the siege, the occupation, and the daily crimes against our people in Gaza."