Gambling on Israeli politics is usually a risky proposition. But it’s a safe bet that on October 27, voters will be able to cast ballots for the Joint List and Ra’am, the two main parties representing Israel’s Arab citizens.

Right now, however, one might get the opposite impression. That’s thanks to a pair of 18-5 votes last week in the Central Elections Committee, a body controlled by the right-wing government, which barred both parties from running, alleging they back armed struggle against the country and negate its existence as a Jewish state.

The decisions have gained global media attention and sparked outcry on Israel’s left and among some supporters of the country abroad, lamenting another blow to its democratic system. For opponents of Israel, the bans are one more exhibit in the case that the Jewish state is a fundamentally racist society.

By the end of the week, this will likely all be moot. The Supreme Court has the final say on which parties are allowed to run, and is expected to overturn the bans, just as it did to similar ones in 2019 and 2022.

The votes, and their fallout, exemplify a process that has long bedeviled Israeli politics. Time and again, controversial or extreme ideas gain initial momentum in the Knesset, spark a flurry of global debate and condemnation — then end up being shelved.

It’s led to a split reality: To Israeli political mavens, the fact that the most radical bills often (but not always) fail seems like a testament to the country’s democratic immune system. But more casual observers, reading the headlines about the extreme idea without paying attention to the follow-up, could take it as proof that Israel is anti-democratic.

That’s what’s happening here, as politicians and commentators are lambasting the election bans, all while understanding that they almost definitely won’t last. Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi, for example, who is subject to the ban, called it racist and undemocratic. Then he predicted that Arab voters would turn out in high numbers — presumably to vote for his party, once it’s reinstated in the running.

The parties that supported the bans likely don’t expect them to hold up, either. Given the unsuccessful track record of these disqualifications, coalition politicians may have been willing to play fast and lose with democratic rights in order to throw some red meat to their base and delegitimize the Arab parties — all while counting on the Supreme Court to maintain the status quo.

But while those in the know assume the bans will fail, many more people, unfamiliar with the intricacies of Israel’s political system, almost certainly went to sleep last week assuming Israel’s 2 million Arab citizens had been permanently disenfranchised.

Of course, it isn’t only the uninformed who are worried about the election bans. First of all, the Knesset has passed plenty of controversial measures, especially under the outgoing government. Even if those measures get struck down, critics have described the election committee’s votes as the latest example of a growing undemocratic tendency on Israel’s right.

And the reliance on the Supreme Court to overturn the decisions isn’t........

© The Times of Israel