Tibi against Yair Golan: "They made a serious mistake and are paying the price"

MK Ahmad Tibi attacks Yair Golan and the Democrats party for supporting the disqualification of Sami Abu Shahadeh from running for the Knesset. Tibi claims the Democrats' vote severely harmed Abu Shahadeh's chances in the High Court and calls it a grave democratic error. Abu Shahadeh withdrew following the recommendation of the Supreme Court president.

MK Ahmad Tibi, chairman of Ta'al, harshly attacked Yair Golan and the Democrats party for their support in disqualifying Sami Abu Shahadeh, chairman of Balad, from running for the Knesset. In an interview with 103fm, Tibi said the Democrats made "a serious mistake both democratically and in harming Sami's right to defend himself properly." He wondered how a left-wing party joined Otzma Yehudit and Ben Gvir's request to disqualify an Arab candidate. Tibi assessed that the Democrats' support for the disqualification influenced the High Court justices, given a panel of five conservative and four liberal justices, and said liberal justices may not have wanted to be to the left of the Democrats. According to him, the vote severely damaged Abu Shahadeh's chances and caused a drop in support for the Democrats among the Arab public. Abu Shahadeh accepted the recommendation of Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit and withdrew from the race. Tibi explained that the Joint List's position was that there was no grounds for disqualification, and that the High Court deviated from the law and its past rulings, especially after October 7.