Politics
Sami Abu Shehade to withdraw from Knesset race following High Court justices' proposal
The Central Elections Committee decided to accept the High Court of Justice justices' proposal: Abu Shehade will withdraw from the Knesset race, and the court will not issue a reasoned verdict affirming his disqualification. During the hearing, Judge Alex Stein said that from an article written by Abu Shehade on October 8 'we learn that he supports terrorism.' National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who requested the disqualification, welcomed the withdrawal but criticized the move for preventing a verdict on the disqualification issue.
· Source: Channel 7. Photo as published in the article
The Central Elections Committee decided Thursday to accept the proposal of High Court of Justice justices, and Sami Abu Shehade will withdraw from the Knesset race, so a reasoned verdict in his case is expected to be avoided.
The decision was made after at the conclusion of the hearing High Court of Justice President Yitzhak Amit proposed, on behalf of the panel's justices, that Abu Shehade withdraw from the race himself and that the court not issue a reasoned verdict affirming his disqualification. According to reports, the Central Elections Committee sought among other things to prevent a precedent allowing a candidate to be disqualified based on individual statements, rather only on the basis of what is defined in jurisprudence as a 'critical mass' of statements.
The hearings were held before an expanded panel of nine justices regarding appeals over the disqualifications from the elections of Abu Shehade, Offer Kesif, the Joint List and Ra'am. Judge Alex Stein said about the article published by Abu Shehade on October 8 that from reading it 'we learn that he supports terrorism,' while his attorney Hassan Jabareen argued in response that the statement that 'October 7 is a historic and strategic event' does not express support for armed struggle.
Stein asked Abu Shehade to present one article in English in which he wrote that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and Abu Shehade replied: 'There is no such article.' President Amit emphasized at the opening of the hearing that 'disqualification authority is a double-edged sword.'
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who filed the request for Abu Shehade's disqualification, welcomed his decision to withdraw and said: 'I'm pleased that the struggle we led resulted in Sami Abu Shehade's withdrawal from the Knesset.' At the same time, he criticized the fact that the High Court allowed him to withdraw without issuing a verdict on the disqualification issue. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded: 'Yitzhak Amit is laughing at us all the way to the ballot box.'
Source: Channel 7
