Israel's election panel clears Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism and Democrats

Update, 24 September, 17:08 Israel time

The Central Elections Committee has now completed its round of hearings, rejecting the petitions against Religious Zionism-Zehut and Yair Golan's Democrats as well. Ynet's news alert reported that the request to disqualify the Democrats was turned down, and The Times of Israel reported that all three Jewish-majority slates challenged before the panel were cleared to run in the election set for October 27.

The vote on the Democrats was preceded by a public dispute inside the coalition. Amit Segal reported that the Religious Zionism lawmaker Simcha Rothman urged Otzma Yehudit to withdraw its petition against the Democrats, calling it a stunt and saying his party would not take part in the vote. Segal then reported that Otzma Yehudit refused to withdraw the request, saying a deferential approach towards the left had caused the failure of the judicial overhaul. The petition was defeated by 14 votes to 2, according to Segal, who added that coalition representatives boycotted the ballot after Ben-Gvir declined their request.

The Times of Israel reported that the parties of the current coalition hold a majority on the committee and that most of its disqualification decisions are expected to be overturned by the Supreme Court. Segal wrote that the disqualification hearings had ended and the matter now moves to the Supreme Court stage.

The story as first reported

Israel's Central Elections Committee rejected the requests to bar Otzma Yehudit, the far-right party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, from competing in the coming general election. The decision was taken by a majority of the committee's members, according to the political commentator Amit Segal, who reported that the panel dismissed the petition seeking to prevent the party from running.

The outcome was also reported by the Hebrew news outlet News.co.il, which said the committee had turned down the request to disqualify Otzma Yehudit, and by Ynet, whose news alert carried the same result. The N12 correspondent Dafna Liel reported from the committee's deliberations that the petitions against the party had been rejected.

What the Central Elections Committee is

The Central Elections Committee is the statutory body that administers national elections to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, and it is the forum where requests to disqualify candidate lists or individual candidates are first heard and voted on. Its members are drawn from the parties represented in the outgoing Knesset, which means disqualification votes are cast by politicians rather than judges, and they frequently break along coalition and opposition lines. The attorney general, Israel's chief legal officer, sends a representative to state the government's legal position before the vote, though that position does not bind the members.

The attorney general's warning

In this case the attorney general's representative argued against disqualifying Otzma Yehudit, but attached a caution to that position. As reported by Amit Segal, the representative told the committee that the accumulation of evidence was drawing the party closer to the prohibited zone. Ynet, in its report on the day's hearings, rendered the warning as a "dangerous proximity to the forbidden domain," while stating that the attorney general's overall stance was that none of the parties under challenge should be barred.

Otzma Yehudit, whose name means "Jewish Power," is led by Ben-Gvir and sits on the nationalist religious right of Israeli politics. It has faced repeated legal challenges to its participation in elections over the years, and its leader has been a recurring subject of petitions of this kind.

The other parties on the agenda

The Otzma Yehudit vote was part of a wider round of disqualification requests. Ynet reported that the committee was also due to vote on barring Religious Zionism-Zehut, the party of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and the Democrats, the centre-left party led by Yair Golan. Ynet added that Likud, the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Shas, the Sephardi Haredi party, had decided not to take part in the vote on disqualifying the Democrats.

Haaretz, reporting before the votes were held, said the committee was meeting to consider requests to bar several lists, naming Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism and the Democrats, ahead of the October election.

The day before

According to Ynet, the committee had voted the previous day to disqualify Sami Abu Shehadeh, the chairman of Balad, an Arab nationalist party; Ofer Cassif, a Jewish lawmaker who has sat with the predominantly Arab Hadash faction; and the lists of Ra'am, the Islamist party, and the Joint List. Ynet reported that the attorney general's position had been that none of those should be disqualified either. The sequence means the committee has moved in opposite directions on Arab parties and on Otzma Yehudit within two days of hearings.

What the reports do not say

The material available does not give the vote tally on Otzma Yehudit, the names of members who voted either way, or the reasoning offered by those who supported disqualification. It does not set out the specific legal grounds cited in the petitions, or say who filed them. The reports do not state the outcome of the votes on Religious Zionism-Zehut and the Democrats, which were still pending at the time of publication, and they do not say whether any of the decisions announced this week will be appealed or reviewed. Nor do the reports give the date of the election beyond the month.