Israel bans Arab parties from election: Who they are, why it matters

Israel’s Central Elections Committee has voted to bar the country’s two main Arab-majority political lists from next month’s parliamentary election, potentially leaving Palestinian citizens of Israel without their principal representatives in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.The committee also voted to disqualify Ofer Cassif, a Jewish politician from the Arab-Jewish Hadash party, and Sami Abu Shehadeh, the leader of the Palestinian nationalist Balad party.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Disaster zone declared across Bangkok as heavy rain triggers floodinglist 2 of 4Pochettino regrets limited role in Balogun red card decision at World Cuplist 3 of 4China, US to open AI ‘communication channel’ after summitlist 4 of 4Senegal draw in Vieira debut, Nigeria survive scare, but Cape Verde crashend of listThe votes are not the final word on who can run in the October 27 election. The Supreme Court is expected to review the decisions next week and has overturned previous attempts to exclude Arab parties and candidates.But the committee’s decision has already prompted accusations of double standards, with Palestinian-led parties facing exclusion while parties led by far-right...