Abu Shehadeh, a key figure in the Palestinian-majority Joint List, was disqualified from standing last month by the Central Elections Committee, a body controlled by the governing coalition.
His disqualification centred on an article he wrote in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on 7 October.
The article, titled “The Al-Aqsa Flood: Preliminary Observations”, was published in Arabic by the Arab48 news outlet on 8 October 2023. It presented a preliminary analysis of the attack and its ramifications.
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He also wrote that the attack showed that “Israel and its intelligence services are made up of human beings like us” and could “be prevented from penetrating our countries, parties, and political movements – if there is the will to do so and if we organise ourselves properly”.