JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman are asking the Supreme Court to uphold the disqualification of Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh from the upcoming Knesset elections, arguing that his statements after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack constitute support for armed struggle against Israel.

The position was submitted ahead of Thursday’s Supreme Court hearing, after the Central Elections Committee voted last week to disqualify Abu Shehadeh from running. The committee voted 30-4 in favor of the disqualification, an unusually broad margin that included support from opposition parties and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, who chairs the committee.

The Attorney General and State Attorney’s position is stronger than the one they presented to the Central Elections Committee earlier this month. At that stage, they said there was sufficient evidence to warrant serious consideration of the disqualification but stopped short of explicitly calling for it.

At the center of the case is an article Abu Shehadeh published on October 8, 2023, one day after the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel. According to the legal opinion, the article expressed support for Hamas’s armed struggle against Israel and therefore falls within the grounds for disqualification established under Israel’s Basic Law: The Knesset.

The state argues that the timing makes the statements particularly serious, describing them as support for armed struggle “in circumstances that are extreme and at the most serious possible timing.”

The legal officials also rejected explanations subsequently provided by Abu Shehadeh, saying that his responses to the article and other evidence were incomplete and did not adequately address the central allegations against him.

The Central Elections Committee had similarly concluded that Abu Shehadeh had failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for the statements. Justice Sohlberg said he departed from the usual neutrality of the committee chairman because he did not find an adequate response to what he considered serious allegations.

Otzma Yehudit, which initiated the disqualification request, has also asked the Supreme Court to admit additional evidence that it says demonstrates Abu Shehadeh continued to express support for Hamas during the war.

Among the material submitted is a video published several days after October 7 in which Abu Shehadeh described the attack as a major “political-strategic” event. The party argues that he criticized Israel without condemning the massacre.

פרסמנו במהדורה- סמי אבו שחאדה: ״אנחנו צריכים להיות גאים״

יו״ר בל״ד אומר בקולו ב9/10, כאשר כבר ברור לכולם מה קרה בדרום, כי הוא גאה במחבלי חמאס.

הוא טוען כי כתב את המאמר בו הוא תומך במחבלי חמאס ב8/10 כאשר הוא לא מודע עדין לטבח הנורא בדרום. אבל גם ב9/10 הוא עדין לא הכיר? pic.twitter.com/9KwSoVNFyr

— אברהם חסון (@HassonAvram) September 22, 2026

Another recording, from a podcast, allegedly shows Abu Shehadeh describing Hamas’s war effort as an act of “steadfastness” and something “legendary.”

Otzma Yehudit also submitted footage from a Balad conference in which Abu Shehadeh said that October 7 “did not happen in a vacuum,” attributing it to the blockade of Gaza, the occupation and what he described as Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

Abu Shehadeh has rejected the allegations. His legal representatives have argued that portraying him as supporting violence is baseless and inconsistent with his political record. They say he has repeatedly condemned attacks on civilians, both Jewish and Arab, and supports a political solution based on equality and justice.

Earlier this month, Abu Shehadeh also walked back his 2023 article, saying that if he had known at the time about the full scale of the atrocities committed on October 7, he would not have published it. Following the committee’s decision, he again said he condemned the October 7 attack and the killing of civilians and opposed armed struggle against Israel.

The Supreme Court will hear Abu Shehadeh’s appeal on Thursday, together with other challenges to election disqualifications. A nine-judge panel is expected to consider the case.

The case is particularly significant because Israeli law places the final authority to approve an individual candidate’s disqualification with the Supreme Court. The court has historically applied the disqualification provisions cautiously, requiring substantial evidence that a candidate supports armed struggle or rejects Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state.

The Central Elections Committee also voted to disqualify other Arab political candidates and lists, including former MK Ofer Cassif and the Joint List, but the Attorney General’s office did not support those disqualifications. The legal opinion therefore distinguishes Abu Shehadeh’s case from the other petitions, arguing that the evidence against him crosses the legal threshold.

The Supreme Court’s ruling will determine whether Abu Shehadeh, who heads Balad, will be permitted to stand in the October 27, 2026 Knesset elections.