Ex-MK Bishara suspected of treason and espionage

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Police said Wednesday that former MK Azmi Bishara is suspected of suspected of treason and espionage, allegedly having aided Hezbollah guerrillas during the Second Lebanon War in July-August 2006.

Bishara, the chairman of the Balad party, is suspected of having been in contact with intelligence agents of Hezbollah during the 34-day conflict.

Reports of the investigation, whose details were initially under a strict court-imposed gag order, first emerged about a month ago. Bishara, who left Israel before the reports broke, has avoided returning, saying he fears he will not receive a fair trial.

He has been traveling in the Arab world, and resigned from the Knesset at the Israeli embassy in Cairo last month. He has denied all the allegations and accused police of conducting a witch hunt. He has vowed to return to Israel, but not said when he will do so.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/854900.html

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1. 'Bishara Told Hizbullah of Plans to Kill Nasrallah'

(IsraelNN.com) Former Knesset Member Azmi Bishara allegedly tipped off Hizbullah that Israel was planning to assassinate Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, security officials revealed Wednesday afternoon after a gag order on the charges against him was lifted.

Bishara also is charged with stealing large sums of money from aid groups and with taking money from Hizbullah in return for providing sensitive information. Police and security officials have been following Bishara's activities for a long period of time before Hizbullah launched a war against Israel last summer.

Bishara allegedly advised Hizbullah how to "deepen their strikes against Israel."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/125706

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2. Bishara calls allegations he aided enemies a 'fabrication'

In an interview for the Beirut newspaper Al Ahabar released Thursday,
Ex-MK and Balad Chair Azmi Bishara rejected the allegations that he aided Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War.

Bishara called the suspicions a "fabrication" and "an attempt to turn an educated leader into a lowly informant". He added that all the alleged information he passed could be found in open media sources.

Bishara also called the suspicions that he received laundered money, "a soap bubble" and added that "there is no evidence, they presented no evidence. I guess there isn't any. Also, had the funds been political donations... we would not have transferred them in that matter."

"Their goal is to turn the Palestinian political and cultural leadership inside into security threats who work with Islamic or resistance movements so that no one in the West or East, will believe that there is such a thing as Arab democrats," Bishara added in the interview.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855484.html

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3. Why Israel is after me

Amman, Jordan — I AM A PALESTINIAN from Nazareth, a citizen of Israel and was, until last month, a member of the Israeli parliament.

But now, in an ironic twist reminiscent of France's Dreyfus affair — in which a French Jew was accused of disloyalty to the state — the government of Israel is accusing me of aiding the enemy during Israel's failed war against Lebanon in July.

Israeli police apparently suspect me of passing information to a foreign agent and of receiving money in return. Under Israeli law, anyone — a journalist or a personal friend — can be defined as a "foreign agent" by the Israeli security apparatus. Such charges can lead to life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

The allegations are ridiculous. Needless to say, Hezbollah — Israel's enemy in Lebanon — has independently gathered more security information about Israel than any Arab Knesset member could possibly provide. What's more, unlike those in Israel's parliament who have been involved in acts of violence, I have never used violence or participated in wars. My instruments of persuasion, in contrast, are simply words in books, articles and speeches.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-bishara3may03,0,2351340.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

[breakaleg]

4. Great piece - simple, hit all the main issues right on the head. nt

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5. He seems to have his rhetorical ducks in a row.

I suspect he is formidable in argument. There don't seem to be many specifics to be had about what he did or did not actually do, so I'm sort of waiting to see what happens there.

I was interested in the fact that the LA Times printed his defense, too. It doesn't seem like the usual thing for them to do.

[breakaleg]

6. I read something recently about him having very limited access to any

planning in the war because most major decisions were made in sub-committees to which he would have had no access. So, I'm curious about what Israel claims he did, if this was the case.

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7. One can only speculate.

It does seem unlikely that, being who he is, he had access to anything important. I suspect his real sin was talking to Hizbullah at all, an arguable point in wartime, and his political positions, which is where the whole "disloyalty" argument comes from. He doesn't seem to be the retiring sort, so it is no surprise he has attracted attention.

The way the argument is being conducted, in the media, seems a bit odd; and the way he escaped arrest and left the country and so on, it's been going on for a while now, I posted a couple of stories earlier, because it seemed so odd even then. I think this story might get a lot noisier, as time goes on.

[Shaktimaan]

8. I thought this was funny

Why then does the U.S. government continue to fully support a country whose very identity and institutions are based on ethnic and religious discrimination that victimize its own citizens

Um... hello? Can you name a place the US supports that DOESN'T do that?

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9. Sources: Evidence on Bishara case sufficient for indictment

The police and Shin Bet have sufficient evidence to indict former MK Azmi Bishara for crimes such as contact with the enemy, say sources who have seen the evidence in recent weeks.

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Most of the allegations involve contact with Hezbollah intelligence agencies, which the police and the Shin Bet say were responsible for collecting intelligence on Israel during the Second Lebanon War.

The bulk of the evidence is based on wire taps of Bishara's telephone conversations with Hezbollah agents. These recordings were authorized by the Supreme Court.

The evidence also suggests that Bishara assisted Hezbollah in broadening the impact of its attacks on Israel by helping direct its rocket barrages and offering recommendations on how to carry out psychological warfare against Israelis. Bishara is also suspected of transferring to Hezbollah military information, but the military censor has imposed a gag order on that information.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855759.html

[Shaktimaan]

10. Damn.

Think it's true?

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11. I suspect it's ambiguous.

The post itself is lacking in details, and has lots of second and third person hearsay, anonymous claims, and speculation. If they had him dead to rights and wanted to get him, there would not seem to be any reason for delay. Instead we have a trial conducted in the press. On the other hand, it seems likely that he has done things that many Jewish Israelis would find offensive, you can tell that much from what he has said. I am sure that the government finds his political position worrisome and dangerous. Things are bad enough without having the 20% of Israeli citizens that are Arab getting up in arms too (from an Israeli government POV). One could speculate that in some respects the government prefers to discredit him in this way, rather than go through the motions of a fair trial, which would also give him a soapbox to shout his message from.

I'm just sort of watching to see what happens.

[henank]

13. He chose to run away

Why do you discredit the Israeli government this way? The facts are clear. He came in to the police for questioning twice and didn't appear for the third session. Instead he ran away. So the Israelis are accused of not giving him a fair trial. If he wanted a trial he could have stayed in Israel, stood trial and tried to prove his point.

A joint Police-Shin Bet investigation has been carried out against Bishara in recent months. Bishara was questioned by the police on two occasions, and was asked to present his version of the affairs.

During his last questioning, the former MK informed the police he plans to leave the country for a few days, and never returned.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3394602,00.html">Ynet

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14. He chose to escape.

Why, when I wrote he would get a fair trial, do you say that I assert that he would not? Was it the use of the word "motions"? But the "motions" of a fair trial is what a fair trial consists of. It is a formal procedure. I was not denigrating it.

It is true that he asserts that he would not get a fair trial, that is one of his explanations, if one bothers to read it, but that isn't what I said. I expect he would get a fair trial, and I expect it would be a giant media circus.

[Douglas Carpenter]

12. Democracy Now interviews Azmi Bishara

listen/watch online or download or read transcript:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/04/1419201

snip: "AMY GOODMAN: That was former Arab member of the Israeli parliament, Azmi Bishara, speaking last week in Cairo. Today, he joins us from Abu Dhabi.

Can you talk, Azmi Bishara, about why you have left Israel, why you resigned from the Knesset?

AZMI BISHARA: Well, both decisions have nothing to do actually with the charges. I resigned from the Knesset because I wanted to -- like a year ago, I felt already exhausted from parliamentary work -- eleven years. This was a very, very intensive year, and I wanted to give more time for my philosophy and literature writing on my books and also for political work, but not in the parliament. It’s a very exhausting place to be. And I think my work was very intensive and very creative. And the tools are there; everybody can use them. I think parties should change their MKs or MPs every two or three times. I did that. But I delayed, actually, the resignation, because of the charges, for a month or two after I knew that they started an investigation.

And I left the country to attend two or three conferences abroad, including an Al Jazeera commenting the Arab Summit. And then I heard the kind of campaign which is run against me in the Israeli press and the kind of plans, like hearing the Israeli intelligence commander -- previous intelligence commander saying on the TV that we have decided to finish the phenomena of Azmi Bishara and all these things, and the kind of, you know, totalitarian campaign without any dissent in the Israeli press, orchestrated like the first weeks of wars, when Israelis engage in wars, in the beginning of wars. So I thought I should slow down a little bit and think.

They changed the rules again totally. Now they are not accusing me of supporting the state of the citizens against the Zionist character of the state, or they're not accusing me of saying things. They’re accusing me of doing things. It is totally different. It’s actually -- they’re accusing me of security crimes that, according to the Israeli law, it’s very hard to clear yourself from, because it’s their arena. They can bring the evidence they want from unknown intelligence sources. They can actually impose new things that you did not do and interpret your relationships. For example, they can declare any friend you have or any journalist you talk to in Lebanon or in Jordan or in Egypt as a foreign agent. And this is so, according to Israeli law. Security courts are very different from civil courts, although they are civil courts formally. But the rules of the game are totally different in there, because of the kind of evidence that convinces a court. So I thought it’s very mean, actually, the fact that instead of facing my political and ideological work, that they referred to security tools with which it’s very, very hard to compete. It’s very hard to challenge. "

listen/watch online or download or read transcript:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/04/1419201

.

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15. Nasrallah repeats denial Bishara aided Hezbollah during war

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"All that is said about his ties to Hezbollah and providing information to Hezbollah is absolutely not true," Nasrallah said, referring to Bishara, who has been accused of treason by the Israeli police.

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Also Sunday, Nasrallah told Hezbollah's Al-Manar television that the United States had initiated the war between Israel and Hezbollah last summer, and that Israel had only been following orders, Israel Radio reported.

According to the report, he added that if the confidential portions of the Winograd war inquiry report were to be released, the Israeli public would learn of the secret meetings that were held between the U.S., Israel and Arab nations wanting to harm Hezbollah. He urged the Israeli public to demand the publication of the entire report, instead of celebrating the fact that it was published in the first place.

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"We consider that any resolution issued by the Security Council is illegitimate and illegal and has no value because it violates the Lebanese national interest," Nasrallah said in an interview with Iran's Arabic-language state television station, Al-Alam.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/856284.html