Israel’s October 27 parliamentary election is approaching after the Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify two Arab-led lists and two candidates; the Supreme Court later overturned the bans on the parties. Sami Abou Shehadeh withdrew after the court urged him to stand down, while denying that he had called for armed struggle. Netanyahu warned of a possible external attack without naming a prospective attacker, and the opposition called his warning a political maneuver.
Summary written by our automated pipeline from the outlets' reporting. How it works
Grouped by where each speaker is from. Quotation marks are the speaker's own words; other lines are our summaries.
Netanyahu said he had previously warned of signs of an enemy attack ahead of the election.
Our summary of Yonhap News Agency
Herzog described the high voter turnout as a badge of honor for Israeli society.
Our summary of The Times of Israel
Baharav-Miara supported Abu Shehadeh’s disqualification, saying his article appeared to support armed struggle against Israel.
Our summary of The Times of Israel
Ben Gvir criticized the court for not ruling on the disqualification matter.
Our summary of The Times of Israel
“The withdrawal of his candidacy is not the end of Abou Shehadeh’s political struggle, and is not the end of Balad’s struggle”
Quoted in The Times of Israel
Abu Shehada said he had never supported violence or armed struggle, did not know the scale of the massacre when he wrote the article, and now regrets writing it.
Our summary of El País
“We have no future here if we do not stop being afraid”
Quoted in NDTV · also 1 other outlet
“…understands that the only way to prevent the establishment of a government of change is to disqualify Ra’am.”
Quoted in teleSUR English, via EFE
“…a slap in the face of the entire Arab public”
Quoted in Xinhua
“…anyone who wants to offer a substantive and genuine alternative to Netanyahu's blood-soaked government will have to talk to us”
Quoted in The Hindu
The Israeli prime minister’s majority accused the lists of denying Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state.
Our summary of Le Monde
Centrist Israeli politicians were divided, with some supporting individual disqualifications while expressing discomfort about excluding entire parties representing a substantial minority.
Our summary of teleSUR English, via Agencies
Points where outlets or parties give conflicting facts or readings. Each side is summarised by our pipeline; its sources are listed under it.
The governing majority said the lists’ positions on Israel’s identity and armed struggle justified disqualification.
Hadash said the move was driven by a far-right effort to suppress Arab-citizen turnout and remain in power.
Hadash, Israeli political party · our summary of teleSUR English, via EFE
The attorney general argued that the article appeared to express support for armed struggle against Israel.
the attorney general · our summary of The Times of Israel
Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel's attorney general · our summary of The Times of Israel
Abu Shehadeh denied supporting violence or armed struggle and said he regretted writing the article.
Sami Abu Shehada, Balad leader · our summary of El País
Sami Abou Shahadeh, Balad leader · our summary of The Times of Israel
Netanyahu said there were signs and preparations for a possible external attack against Israel.
Reactions from other countries and bodies, others involved, and commentary.
“America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so”
Quoted in NDTV
“I do not believe there is an 'election' taking place there”
Quoted in Mehr News Agency
Civil administration in Gaza, run by Hamas since 2007.
The Palestinian death count in the Gaza war has exceeded 74,000.
Our summary of NDTV, via AFP
“This is an election with a lot of anger about responsibility for the Oct. 7 massacre and about the social and economic cost of sustaining the war since”
Quoted in Fox News
“I urge every young person and everyone with a vote to cast it”
Quoted in The Times of Israel, via Agence France-Presse
“…his message preys on young uneducated people”
Quoted in BBC News
“As for Iran, a settlement is needed before the conflict escalates further”
Quoted in The Korea Herald, via Reuters
“There is a large camp in Israel whose main goal in the coming election is just for things to be calmer”
Quoted in The Hindu · also 1 other outlet
“Anybody who’s an 18-year-old now, his or her entire political consciousness is under [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu; it’s a very ultra-nationalist environment”
Quoted in The Times of Israel, via AFP
“…who is best positioned to continue the work begun under Netanyahu, foremost prosecuting the wars that have, to a large extent, dismantled the Iranian-led Shiite axis surrounding…”
Quoted in Fox News
“…a new Israeli government should seek a reset”
Quoted in The Times of Israel, via JTA
On September 23, the Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify two lists formed by Arab parties from the upcoming legislative election.
Sources: Le Monde · The Times of Israel
The Central Election Committee voted in favor of disqualifying the two lists formed by Arab parties.
The committee voted to disqualify Ra’am and the Joint List, an alliance of Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad.
The committee also disqualified Ofer Cassif and Sami Abu Shehadeh.
On September 29, Netanyahu warned that signs of an enemy attack had been detected ahead of the election.
Sources: Yonhap News Agency
Netanyahu said he had previously warned of signs of an enemy attack ahead of the election.
After the Court urged him to withdraw on Thursday, Shehadeh withdrew overnight Thursday into Friday.
Sources: Le Monde · The Times of Israel
After the Court urged him to withdraw on Thursday, Sami Abou Chehadeh withdrew his candidacy overnight.
Sami Abou Shehadeh is ending his candidacy for the October 27 election after facing the prospect of disqualification.
On October 2, the Supreme Court overturned the bans on the Arab parties.
Sources: Deutsche Welle
The CEC moved to ban the Arab parties and sought to bar several individual candidates.
Each outlet's headline, linked to its article. Non-English headlines are machine-translated. The groupings and notes on what each outlet emphasises are automated.
None of our outlets is based in Egypt or United Arab Emirates. No statements from the government or officials of Palestine, Egypt or United Arab Emirates are in our sources.
Written by our automated pipeline from the statements in the coverage; each point lists the statements it rests on.
The committee’s case against the lists centered on allegations that they rejected Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state and supported armed struggle. Hadash said the move was meant to suppress Arab-citizen turnout; Adalah accused the attorney general of applying a stricter standard to Arab candidates than to Ben Gvir and Smotrich.
the Israeli prime minister's majority, Israeli governing majority · our summary of Le Monde
the Israeli prime minister's majority, Israeli governing majority · our summary of Le Monde
Hadash, Israeli political party · our summary of teleSUR English, via EFE
Adalah · our summary of The Times of Israel
Abu Shehadeh withdrew after the justices urged him to stand down and indicated that a majority would uphold his disqualification. He regretted writing the article and denied calling for armed struggle; Ben Gvir criticized the court for not ruling on the matter.
Our summary of The Times of Israel
Sami Abou Shahadeh, Balad leader · our summary of The Times of Israel
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel's national security minister · our summary of The Times of Israel
European outlets: Reported the committee’s decisions, the court’s later action on the party bans, and Abu Shehadeh’s withdrawal and response.
Israeli and international outlets: Detailed the petitions, candidate objections, and reactions from parties and officials.
TASS: Focused on the election schedule and polling projections for the coalition and opposition.
Turkish and Korean outlets: Covered Netanyahu’s warning and the opposition’s characterization of it as a political maneuver.
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Archive portrait of Sami Abou Shahadeh, photographed in 2021.
File:Sami Abou Shahadeh (cropped).png · אמיר דיב - Amir Deeb · CC BY-SA 4.0
דוברות הרשימה המשותפת - Spokeswoman for the joint list party
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
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