Hadash, its historical component, emerged in 1977 from the former Israeli Communist Party (Rakah), on a platform of social justice and Jewish-Arab partnership. Since 2015, Hadash has regularly allied with Ta'al and Balad on a common list, the “Joint List” (Joint List), to pass the electoral threshold.
Reconstituted on August 19, 2026, after the failure of negotiations for a single Arab list including Ra'am, it is led by Yousef Jabareen (elected chair of Hadash on May 16, 2026, after Ayman Odeh, who had led the party for years, chose not to run again, as did Aida Touma-Suleiman), with Ahmad Tibi heading the parliamentary group. With 10 seats, the expected distribution would be five for Hadash, three for Balad and two for Ta'al.
On September 23, 2026, the Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify the Joint List (as well as Ra'am) from the October 27, 2026 election. On October 2, 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned this disqualification, ruling that the evidence presented did not meet the strict criteria established by case law; the party is therefore permitted to run.