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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
French paper: Former MK Azmi Bishara ‘strongly influenced’ Paris outline
2024-03-18
[IsraelTimes] French daily Le Figaro reports that former Balad MK Azmi Bishara played a role in talks between the US, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
, Israel and Hamas
...the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
 in Gay Paree in February to build an outline for a potential hostage deal with Hamas.

A source quoted by the French paper says Bishara "strongly influenced the drafting" of the outline, which would see a temporary pause in fighting in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
 and the release of hostages held by Hamas since October 7 in exchange for the release of Paleostinian security prisoners and provisions for the entry of humanitarian aid to the Strip.

The report adds that Bishara serves as an adviser to Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Once a Knesset black sheep over his pro-Paleostinian stance, Bishara left Israel in 2007, accused of spying for Hezbollah, a charge he denied.
It was a little more than merely spying: he was accused of advising Hezbollah and directing its rocket fire against Israel during a month-long war in 2006.
He is now a major personality in Qatari media and has a following of more than 1.7 million on social media platform X.

The Gay Paree proposal is still in the midst of negotiations, with Israel expected to send a delegation to Qatar tomorrow.
Related:
Azmi Bishara: 2016-12-19 Arab MK allegedly smuggled mobile phones to Palestinian security prisoners
Azmi Bishara: 2016-10-07 Accused Hezbollah Operative Slated to Speak In Washington, D.C.
Azmi Bishara: 2016-09-19 Arab-Israeli party suspected of multimillion-shekel fraud
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arab MK allegedly smuggled mobile phones to Palestinian security prisoners
2016-12-19
[IsraelTimes] Balad politician Basel Ghattas confronted by police after a jail visit on Sunday, says he has ’nothing to hide’; Liberman: Balad is a party of spies and traitors.

Police have launched an investigation into an Arab politician suspected of undermining state security by smuggling mobile phones to Paleostinian security prisoners.

Basel Ghattas, a politician from the Balad Party, which is part of the Knesset’s Joint (Arab) List, will be investigated for a suspected breach of security, Balad said, adding that the Lahav 433 National Crime Unit summoned Ghattas for questioning.

Ghattas is suspected of smuggling 15 mobile phones on Sunday to two Paleostinian security prisoners at Ketziot prison, south of Beersheba in southern Israel, Channel 2 reported. One of the two prisoners, both members of Fatah, is serving a 37-year term for murder.

Police were waiting for him when he emerged from a jail visit on Sunday, Channel 2 reported. It said police asked him to accompany them, but he refused, citing his Knesset immunity.

Ghattas said on Sunday evening that "Balad is being deliberately targeted" by the Israeli authorities, that he has "nothing to hide," and that he would present himself for questioning as necessary.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is considering halting all MKs’ visits to security prisoners, Channel 2 said.

"It is clear that the police are insisting on continuing their political pursuit of Balad MKs and senior party members," Ghattas said. "This behavior shows a policy of political Dire Revenge which has not frightened us in the past and will not frighten us in the future either."

Balad, an acronym for the Arabic for National Democratic Assembly, is part of the Joint List, a coalition of Arab Israeli parties in parliament. The party is especially critical of Israeli policies and one of its members of parliament, Hanin Zoabi, has frequently angered Israeli officials.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened...
 Nibin Abu Rahmoun, the woman who will head the party’s Knesset list in the next elections, was also questioned by police, Haaretz news site reported on Sunday.

Balad officials were investigated for financial irregularities in September. At the time the party denounced the probe as an attempt to silence Israel’s Arab minority, which accounts for 17.5 percent of the country’s eight million population and is largely supportive of the Paleostinian cause.

Party MK Said Nafa served a year-long prison sentence after being convicted of illegally traveling to Syria.

Balad’s three Knesset members fired up the rubes among Jewish Israelis earlier this year when they met relatives of Paleostinians whom authorities say were killed while carrying out attacks.

In response, parliament passed a controversial law in July allowing the expulsion of MKs deemed guilty of racial incitement or supporting armed struggle against Israel.

Balad founder and then MK Azmi Bishara fled Israel in 2007 amid allegations he advised Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and directed its rocket fire against Israel during a month-long war the previous year.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a statement Sunday evening that the suspicions against Ghattas were "no more than another link in a chain of evidence that the ’Joint List’ is actually the ’spy and traitor list’...

"We will continue in our efforts to ensure that not only will they not be part of Israel’s Knesset, but that they will no longer be citizens of the State of Israel," Liberman said.

The Joint List holds 13 of the 120 seats in parliament and is the third largest bloc in the legislature.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Accused Hezbollah Operative Slated to Speak In Washington, D.C.
2016-10-07
[FREEBEACON] A former Arab member of Israel’s parliament who was forced to flee the country after he was accused of working as a top Hezbollah operative is slated to speak next week in Washington, D.C., raising questions about how he obtained permission to enter U.S. soil.
Isn't this just the frosting on the cake of the past eight years.
Azmi Bishara, who is accused by Israel’s Shin Bet secret service of helping Hezbollah plot terrorist operations, is confirmed to speak next week at Washington’s downtown Marriott hotel as part of a conference organized by The Arab Center of Washington, D.C.

An official from the Arab Center confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that Bishara will be attending the event, raising questions about how an individual linked to a U.S.-designated sponsor of terror obtained permission to enter America.

Bishara was initially slated to speak alongside former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who the Free Beacon has learned cancelled his appearance. The talk was to focus on the promotion of democracy in the Arab world, according to a current conference schedule.

McFaul’s image was removed from the conference’s webpage several hours after the Free Beacon made an inquiry into the event.

Bishara remains listed as a speaker.

Bishara, who has been living in Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
 since he fled Israel in 2007, is accused by Israel of helping Hezbollah select targets during its 2006 assault on the Jewish state. Israel is still seeking to detain Bishara and charge him for these terror offenses. Israeli authorities have said they will arrest Bishara if he returns to the country, where he could face the death penalty, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arab-Israeli party suspected of multimillion-shekel fraud
2016-09-19
Politics: sometimes war by other means. Did President Obama's democracy advisors teach them this?
[IsraelTimes] More than 20 suspects tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
 in massive sweep; Balad calls allegations ’baseless,’ part of ’persecution campaign

Israeli police on Sunday arrested more than 20 activists and members of the Arab Israeli party Balad, saying an investigation revealed that the party had concealed the origin of millions of shekels in donations.

Balad, which holds three Knesset seats and is one of the four parties comprising the Joint (Arab) List faction, said the arrests were part of a systematic campaign of political persecution.

Those arrested in the sweep of Balad’s offices included senior members and activist, among them lawyers and accountants, a police statement said.

Police said they opened their investigation into Balad with the approval of the attorney general after a state comptroller report raised the suspicion that senior members and activists had created a mechanism to "systematically misrepresent" the origins of millions of shekels donated to the party to finance its operations in recent years.

The party allegedly reported large donations from "various sources in Israel and abroad" as if they were hundreds of smaller contributions made within Israel.

Police said the suspicions included "falsifying corporate documents, forgery, use of forged documents, money laundering, and violating the party financing law."

In a statement to the press, Balad denied the charges, calling them "fabricated" and "baseless."

"The latest arrests are a brazen and dangerous escalation, but will not deter us from continuing our work," the statement said.

Balad called the arrests an "authoritarian" attempt to undermine the party’s "national and democratic role."

A statement in Hebrew added that the arrests were part of a "campaign of persecution against the Arab minority in general and against the political movement [Balad] specifically."

The Joint List said in a brief statement that it would not comment on the arrests.

Balad, which advocates for a binational state for Paleostinians and Israelis, has been dogged by controversy.

Its founder, Azmi Bishara, fled Israel in 2007 amid accusations that he had provided the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah with information during the Second Leb War in 2006. He has since been living in Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
Earlier this year, the party’s three Knesset members were widely condemned after they visited the families of Paleostinians killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis. They were suspended on February 8 by the Knesset Ethics Committee: Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas for four months and Jamal Zahalka for two.

More recently, Ghattas made headlines for calling former president Shimon Peres a "blood-covered war criminal," after the Nobel Peace Prize-winner was hospitalized due to a stroke.
Link


Arabia
Arab-Israeli MK Haneen Zoabi Visits Qatar — Hamas' Patron
2014-08-18
[Ynet] After initial denial, Balad party confirms three Arab MKs flew to Gulf state for interviews with Arab-language press.

The three members of Knesset on behalf of Balad, the National Democratic Assembly party, flew to Qatar — the country which funds Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and hosts its political leader — after the Gazoo terror group's representatives deliberated the Egyptian ceasefire offer in the Gulf state.

The MKs — Jamal Zahalka, Haneen Zoabi, and Basel Ghattas — were interviewed on Arab-language press and met with academics.

Various officials in Balad initially denied the trip to Qatar, though they eventually confirmed the itinerary.

"MKs Zahalka and Ghattas flew for media interviews in Qatar and also happened to meet with academics," said a statement released by the party, which also confirmed Zoabi's arrival in Qatar.

Recently, the Balad MKs were involved in a number of incidents which stirred controversy.

Zoabi was investigated by the police last week for alleged incitement to violence and insulting a public worker, while Ghattas stood for a minute of silence in the Knesset plenum in honor of the Paleostinian victims in Gazoo.

Former Balad MK Azmi Bishara currently resides in Qatar after fleeing Israel when he was suspected in spying and aiding Hezbollah during the Second Leb War.

Deputy Interior Minister Faina Kirschenbaum, the director-general of Yisrael Beiteinu, criticized the MKs' visit to Qatar. "The Balad party members are dealing these days, together with Hamas chief Mashal and his advisor Bishara, in the corpses of Gazook residents."

She said: "Hamas' leadership in Qatar, together with their agents in the Israeli Knesset, is doing everything in its power to torpedo the ceasefire agreement. Balad, like Hamas, want the death of civilians on both sides to continue."

Kirschenbaum emphasized that "it is not acceptable that (the party's) members will visit a state which funds terror against Israel and nothing will be done. I call on the Attorney General to investigate the legality of their actions and the purpose of their visit to Qatar."
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Former MK convicted of contacting foreign agents
2014-04-07
[Ynet] Said Nafa, former representative of Balad party, met in Syria with Popular Front leader; Nafa was convicted of both illegally exiting to enemy state and aiding others to do so.

The Nazareth District Court convicted former Balad Knesset Member Said Nafa of contact with a foreign agent, illegal exit to an enemy country and aiding other to exist to an enemy country.

Nafa was acquitted of another charge of contacting a foreign agent after no evidence was found that he had met with the leader of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, political bureau Khaled Mashal.

The offenses were committed in 2007 while Nafa, citizen of Beit Jann, served in the Knesset. Religious Druze leaders turned to him for help to organize a trip to Syria, and Nafa helped them though the Interior Ministry did not approve the trip. Nafa was aided by former Knesset Member Azmi Bishara, who left the country of fear he would be accused of security offenses and Nafa replaced him in the Knesset.

In September 2007, 282 religious leaders, joined by Nafa, crossed the border into Syria. Nafa stayed in the enemy country for seven days, in which he met with secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
... Paleostinian Marxist movement, founded in 1967. It is considered a terrorist organization by more than 30 countries including the U.S., European Union, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica. The PFLP's stated goal is the establishment of a socialist State in Paleostine. They pioneered armed aircraft hijackings in the late 60s and early 70s...
 -- General Command (PFLP-GC), Talal Naji.

Nafa denied at first that he had met with Naji and claimed that his assistant, who joined him on the trip, was the one who met with him. Eventually, Nafa confirmed at court that he had met with Naji, but claimed it was a coincidental meeting, without prior scheduling, and was not secretive.

Judge Ester Helman, who wrote the verdict, stated however that "it was a meeting that was planned ahead of time, and its very existence was kept secret. The defendant was surprised and could not believe the Sherlocks learned about the meeting. He made every effort to deny it and to find out how the information was leaked, knowing that such an encounter crossed red lines, as he himself defined."

The defendant denied the third charge -- a meeting with the leader of the Hamas political bureau Khaled Mashal, however confirmed that Nazi tried to coordinate such a meeting through the phone in his office, while Nafa was present. However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
 the only evidence proving the meeting indeed took place is a box of candy Nafa told his assistant he had received from Mashaal -- and the assistant's testimony. According to the judge, it can be proven that the meeting was arranged, but there is not enough evidence to convict Nafa in executing the meeting.

In regards to the trip to Syria and aiding the delegation of religious leaders, Nafa was convicted of offenses of illegally exiting to an enemy state and aiding the offense. The judge ruled that not only did Nafa help the delegation members obtain the required approvals and coordinate the visit, but he also took responsibility for the delegation's behavior in Syria. His sentence will be determined at a later time.
Link


Arabia
Saudi Bans Books at Fair in Wide-Ranging Crackdown
2014-03-17
[An Nahar] Saudi authorities have banned hundreds of books, including works by renowned Paleostinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, as part of a crackdown on publications deemed threatening to the conservative kingdom.
Betcha they all can be downloaded from the internet...
Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
 clamped down on dissent following the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, from which it has been largely spared, and has adopted an increasingly confrontational stance towards the Moslem Brüderbund and other Islamist groups it has long viewed as a threat to its security.

The local Okaz daily reported Sunday that organizers at the Riyadh International Book Fair had confiscated "more than 10,000 copies of 420 books" during the exhibition.

Local news website Sabq.org reported that members of the kingdom's notorious inquisitors religious police had protested at "blasphemous passages" in works by the late Darwish, widely considered one of the greatest Arab poets, pressing organizers to withdraw all his books from the fair, which ended Friday.

The inquisitors religious police frequently intervene to enforce the kingdom's strict conservative values, but the move to ban so many works was seen as unprecedented.

Similar action was taken against works by Iraq's most famous modern poet, Badr Shaker al-Sayyab, and another Iraqi poet, Abdul Wahab al-Bayati, as well as those by Paleostinian poet Muin Bseiso.

The fair's organizing committee also banned a book entitled "When will the Saudi Woman Drive a Car?" by Abdullah al-Alami, the Saudi Gazette daily reported.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women, forced to cover in public from head to toe, are not allowed to drive.

Other banned books include "The History of Hijab" and "Feminism in Islam."

Activist Aziza Youssef said the crackdown had offered "free advertising to those whose books were banned" as many "rushed to download these works from the Internet."

Organizers also banned all books by Azmi Bishara, a former Arab Israeli MP who left the Jewish state in 2007 and is now close to authorities in Qatar, where he is based, Sabq.org reported.

The ban comes amid escalating tensions between Qatar and three other Gulf Arab monarchies -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain -- who pulled their envoys from Doha earlier this month, accusing it of interfering in their internal affairs.

The decision to withdraw the ambassadors was seen as driven largely by Saudi animosity towards the Moslem Brüderbund of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
 and its regional affiliates, which are widely believed to receive support from Qatar.

"Revolution", a book by Wael Ghonim, a secular Egyptian and former Google
...contributed $814,540 to the 2008 Obama campaign...
executive who became an icon of the country's 2011 uprising that toppled Saudi ally Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, was also banned from the Riyadh fair, according to Sabq.

Organizers of the book fair, which began March 4, had announced ahead of the event that any book deemed "against Islam" or "undermining security" in the kingdom would be confiscated.

A few days after the fair opened, Saudi authorities closed the stall of the Arab Network for Research and Publishing headed by Islamist publisher Nawaf al-Qudaimi and confiscated all his publications, citing threats to the kingdom's security.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arab-Israeli gets 9 years in prison for spying
2011-01-31
[Arab News] An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced an Arab-Israeli activist who confessed to spying for Leb's Hezbullies snuffies to nine years in prison.

Amir Makhoul pleaded guilty in October to contacting a foreign agent, conspiring to aid an enemy in time of war and espionage. The top charge -- of aiding an enemy -- was dropped when Makhoul agreed to the plea bargain of between seven to 10 years. He faced a potentially much longer sentence had his case gone to trial.

Court documents said Makhoul used encryption software to send Hezbullies information about Israeli military facilities and defense capabilities. Hezbullies operatives also asked Makhoul to locate the residence of the head of Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, according to the documents.

Shin Bet officials said Makhoul also passed along information about Israelis believed to be vulnerable to recruitment by Hezbullies.

Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbullies are bitter enemies. Hezbullies formed in the early 1980s to fight Israeli troops who invaded and occupied southern Leb from 1982 to 2000. The two foes also fought a monthlong war in 2006.

The case against Makhoul, a prominent pro-Paleostinian activist whose brother served in Israel's Parliament, has strained relations between Israel and its Arab minority.

Arabs make up about 20 percent of Israel's 7.5 million citizens. They enjoy full rights but complain of decades of discrimination. In recent years, many have become radicalized and increasingly critical of Israeli policies against Paleostinians.

"It is a difficult day today for all of us because Amir was one of the key people among the Paleostinians inside the Green Line, with a very strong voice against (Israeli) state violence against Paleostinians," said his attorney, Hussein Abu Hussein.

Abu Hussein said that Makhoul agreed to a plea bargain because when Paleostinians face security-related charges in Israeli courts, the chances for a fair trial are "nonexistent." He said Makhoul was vulnerable to prosecutors after being held in jail without access to counsel, doctors or his family.

Makhoul claimed he fell into a "trap," and that he was being prosecuted as a political reaction to his work exposing human rights
... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
 violations by Israel.

In recent years, several Israeli Arabs have been jugged for spying for Hezbullies, a fierce enemy of Israel suspected of involvement in bloody attacks against Jews outside the region as well.

In another high-profile case, politician Azmi Bishara decamped the country four years ago to avoid facing similar espionage charges. Living in exile, he has since become a frequent participant in Arabic TV panels, heaping scorn and criticism on Israel and its policies toward Paleostinians.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
There is No "Palestinian" Nation.
2009-11-28
The Zionist Freedom Alliance of California has been circulating a video on the internet this past week exposing former Member of Knesset Azmi Bishara denying the existence of a “Palestinian” nation. The video was recorded years prior to Bishara entering Israel's parliament in 1996 as head of the Arab Balad party.
Video at the link
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel rejects bid to revoke Arab MP's citizenship
2008-09-02
Israel's High Court on Monday rejected an application to revoke the citizenship of Arab former MP Azmi Bishara, who fled Israel last year amid claims he had spied for Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.

The court also rejected a bid to stop parliament from paying out state pension benefits to Bishara, Israeli media reported.

The petition was filed by Danny Danone, a senior member of the right-wing opposition Likud party, who accused Bishara of "treason."

The court argued it had no legal standing to revoke Bishara's citizenship or to block his pension benefits. But it noted that parliament is currently considering draft legislation that would make it possible to revoke the nationality of any MP "suspected of harming state security."

The law was approved in a preliminary vote in June, causing an uproar among Arab-Israeli MPs who called it "racist." It has to pass three more votes to be adopted.

Bishara, who headed the small National Democratic Assembly (Balad) party, fled Israel in April 2007 amid allegations he advised Hezbollah and directed its rocket fire against Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

Bishara has denied spying for Hezbollah but acknowledged criticizing its rocketing of Arab villages in Israel. Before leaving Israel, he had campaigned for the rights of the 1.5 million-strong Arab minority who account for 20 percent of Israel's population and are descended from those who remained in Israel after the 1948 war.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Bishara meets Assad in Damascus to discuss 'Israeli massacre' in Gaza
2008-03-04
Fromer Balad chairman Azmi Bishara met with Syrian President Basah Assad in Damascus on Monday. During their meeting the two reportedly discussed the "tragic situation" in the Gaza Strip and the "ongoing Israeli acts of massacre against the Palestinian people."
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Former MK Bishara met with Hezbollah chief Nasrallah
2007-10-09
Balad Chairman and former MK Azmi Bishara met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported Monday. The newspaper did not say where and where the meeting was held or what was discussed, nor did it reveal the source of the information.

Bishara visited Lebanon some two weeks ago. During a stop in the village of Nabatiyeh, Bishara called for a global front to prevent a regional war. The Israeli Arab newspaper A-Sinara had reported in the past that Nasrallah denied Bishara's request for a meeting.

Bishara is accused of security and financial-related crimes, and as a result fled Israel several months ago and currently resides in Jordan and Qatar.
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