The High Court of Justice rejected a petition by the Adalah Legal Center and the Joint List, which sought to ban polling station officials from carrying firearms inside voting precincts during Knesset elections. The petition was filed following an October 15 announcement by Likud and Religious Zionism that they intended to deploy approximately 2,000 poll observers in 'Arab concentrations,' most of them yeshiva students from Religious Zionism. The petition argued that armed presence at polling stations, given the tense political atmosphere and a campaign labeling Arab citizens as threatening election integrity, could deter voters from exercising their right to vote and even endanger lives.