They were struck off by the committee, which has a right-wing majority, after petitioners including Likud parliamentarian David Bitan and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman argued they supported terror and ruled out Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

The Central Electoral Committee barred the Balad-United Arab list, which had been predicted to win around five seats in the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset, and Ofer Cassif, the only Jewish candidate on the mostly Arab Hadash-Tal list.

JERUSALEM — A decision by Israel’s electoral committee to ban an Israeli Arab list and a left-wing candidate from running in its elections, while allowing an extreme right one to run in contradiction to a recommendation from the country’s attorney general, sparked criticism from human rights groups on Thursday.


Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit had rejected those petitions but recommended one against Michael Ben Ari, the leader of the far-right party Otzma Yehudit party, which includes followers of the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose original party was outlawed in Israel and designated a terrorist organization in the United States.

The electoral committee, however, ruled he was eligible to run.

While the bans that the electoral committee imposed are subject to appeal at Israel’s Supreme Court, which is expected to strike them down, Arab politicians said it would likely hurt voter turnout among 2 million Arab Israelis.

It follows the passing of the Nation State Law last year, which etched into legislation most elements of Israel’s declaration of independence, except for those that guaranteed equality for non-Jews.

Heba Yazbak, a candidate from the Israeli Arab Balad party, said disenfranchised Arab voters might forgo the vote entirely and bolster calls for boycott. The Arab population, which makes up about 20 percent of the Israeli population, traditionally struggles with low voter turnout, though in the last election more voted than ever before.


Israeli human rights group Adalah cast both bans as politically motivated. ‘‘It’s clear that the committee’s decisions are strictly the result of political considerations reflecting the McCarthyist persecution of those whose views are not acceptable to Israel’s political right,’’ it said in a statement.