Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! party said Tuesday that it supports a bid to disqualify Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh from running for the 26th Knesset, after Otzma Yehudit formally petitioned last week to bar his candidacy.
Yashar! cited an article Abu Shehadeh published on Oct. 8, 2023, in which he described Hamas’ attack a day earlier as “an important historic event militarily, politically and strategically.”
“These words cannot be erased by a clarification post almost three years later,” the party said.
Yashar! does not currently sit in the Knesset and therefore has no representative on the body that will vote on the disqualification request. The party nevertheless said it believes Abu Shehadeh’s remarks crossed the threshold set by Basic Law: The Knesset, which bars support for an armed struggle by a terrorist organization against Israel.
The party also cited Abu Shehadeh’s statement that “if small, besieged Gaza managed to do this, and at this level, others can do it more effectively and easily.”
Yashar! said the comments were published at a time when reports had already established that hundreds of Israelis had been killed and others abducted to Gaza.
“The late clarification by Abu Shehadeh does not erase what he wrote in real time,” the party said. “Now, when his candidacy is being examined, he says he did not support the massacre. But the test is not the wording he chose on the eve of the decision on his case, but what he published the day after the massacre and what those words meant.”
The party added that Arab citizens have a right to full political representation, but argued that support for an armed struggle by a terrorist organization against Israel cannot be permitted under the law.
Abu Shehadeh has rejected the claim that he supported the Oct. 7 massacre. In a recent clarification, he said that had he known the scale of the atrocities when writing the article, he would not have published it, and said he had never called for violence or supported the attack. Otzma Yehudit’s petition cites the Oct. 8 article and other statements as grounds for disqualification.
Eisenkot and Lieberman to meet after public clash
Meanwhile, Eisenkot and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Lieberman are expected to meet Tuesday evening, days after Eisenkot sharply criticized Lieberman over maneuvering surrounding the race for prime minister.
“Party leaders talk, and I assume there will be meetings in the coming period,” Eisenkot told 103FM. “There are weekly coordination meetings between the parties, and there are also substantive disagreements. We have a common goal, and I am certain it will be reflected by Election Day.”
Last Thursday, Eisenkot criticized a meeting between Lieberman and Beyachad chairman Naftali Bennett, arguing that the opposition bloc should set clear ground rules for choosing its candidate for prime minister.
Gadi Eiskenot and Avigdor Lieberman
(Photo: Shaul Golan)
“They are making a mistake by refusing to establish basic rules for the candidate for prime minister. They are hurting the chances of winning,” Eisenkot said. “The public wants change.”
He accused his rivals of engaging in “old politics” and said each contender should present his experience and leadership credentials and allow voters to decide.
Yisrael Beytenu responded at the time by saying Lieberman was committed to forming what the party described as a Zionist government without Netanyahu, Arab parties or Haredi parties.
Eisenkot also addressed possible cooperation with Arab parties on Tuesday, saying one of his conditions for joining a future government would be recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organization that must be dismantled.
“I don’t see any Arab party accepting that,” he said. “Anyone who does not accept it will not sit with me.”
Yashar! petitions against Smotrich AI campaign
Yashar! also petitioned Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the Religious Zionist Party, demanding the removal of an AI-generated campaign video depicting Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit, Justice Daphne Barak-Erez and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara as participants in an anti-Smotrich protest who are dragged away by police.
Yashar! argued that the video turns senior judicial officials into campaign material and falsely depicts them engaging in political and criminal conduct that never occurred.
Smotrich’s campaign against the judiciary
(Video: Religious Zionist Party)
Religious Zionism rejected the criticism, saying the video was intended to illustrate its claim that senior legal officials use what it called “legal violence” to obstruct government policy. The party denied that the video encouraged violence.
The campaign, titled “Releasing the Blockage,” accompanies Religious Zionism’s proposal for further changes to the judicial system, including splitting the attorney general’s role, changing the way the Supreme Court president is selected and introducing an override clause. Ynet previously reported that Smotrich presented the plan as a condition for joining a future coalition.