High Court of Justice Rejects Demand to Ban Poll Workers from Carrying Weapons

Reason for Applying to the Court

The petition was filed following an October 15 announcement by Likud and Religious Zionism. These political forces announced their intention to send about 2,000 observers to polling stations in areas with concentrated Arab populations; according to the report, most of the observers were expected to be students at religious educational institutions affiliated with the Religious Zionist movement.

The Petitioners’ Arguments

The Adalah Center and the Joint List argued that the presence of armed individuals at polling stations, amid political tensions, could intimidate voters and prevent them from exercising their right to vote. They also referred to a campaign portraying Arab citizens as a threat to the integrity of the elections and warned of a potential danger to human life.

The High Court of Justice’s Ruling

The High Court of Justice rejected the petition and did not impose the requested ban on polling-station officials carrying weapons within voting sites. The report did not specify the case number, the date of the decision, the composition of the court, the respondents’ positions, or the legal grounds for rejecting the petition.

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