Having run afoul of the law, former Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara (pictured) is trying to whip up world opinion against Israel. But don’t take our word for it. AFP writes:
“He will stay abroad to mobilise an Arab and international solidarity campaign to prepare to confront” the Israeli authorities, the secretary general of his National Democratic Assembly party, Awad Abdelfattah, told AFP.
A court-imposed gag order on the police investigation was partially lifted, revealing that Bishara is suspected of transferring information to Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War, maintaining contacts with an enemy agent, and money laundering. His claims of racism don’t hold water and distract from the question of Bishara’s conduct during the war and his unauthorized visit to Syria in September.
Before the gag order was lifted, Bishara chalked up one success with this headline in The Scotsman:
Arab-Israeli MP resigns over ‘racist’ climate
UPDATE April 26: According to the Jerusalem Post, support for Bishara globally and within his Israeli-Arab constituency is fizzling out:
Bishara hoped that his showdown with the Israeli justice system would turn him into an international martyr for Palestine. He might have bolstered his already high profile on the Arab satellite channels, but his “escape” has scarcely attracted more than fleeting attention from the Western press. “Let’s face it,” said a foreign journalist based in Jerusalem, “Nelson Mandela he’s not.”
