Israeli Supreme Court overturns ban on four Arab parties standing in elections later this month

Israel's Supreme Court on Friday said that four Arab parties may compete in the Israeli parliamentary elections at the end of this month. Arabs make up around one fifth of Israel's population. The decision overturns a move by the Central Elections Committee (CEC) in late September to ban the Arab parties . The CEC also sought to bar several individual candidates from the race. The Court's decision means the United Arab List party, commonly known as Ra'am, and the Joint List, consisting of the Hadash, Balad and Ta'al parties, may run in the parliamentary vote on October 27. The decisions regarding Ra'am and the Joint List were unanimous and widely expected. Moreover, the court also overturned a decision to bar Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif from running.