Israel Frames Arab Knesset Member Azmi Bishara

Israel is not only viciously attacking Palestinians in Palestine, but it is also framing members of the Knesset (MK) who represent the 1 million Palestinians in Israel, including Azmi Bishara, who has had his parliamentary immunity removed so he could be tried for political actions.

The story on this attempt to criminalize opposition to Zionism can be found at:
"Israel: The Show-Trial of Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara" by Robert Stevens, April 16, 2002, World Socialist Website at:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/apr2002/bish-a16.shtml
and at the support website for Mr. Bishara at:
The International Committee for the Defense of Azmi Bishara at:
http://www.azmibishara.info/

Pertinent paragraphs are:

"Two specific charges are being made against Bishara in the legal action. The first is that he delivered a speech in Kardaha, Syria on the one-year anniversary of the death of former Syrian President, Hafez Assad. In this speech he called on Arab countries to take a unified stance in supporting the struggle of the Palestinians against the Israeli occupation."

"Bishara is being indicted for making that statement and for the contents of a speech he delivered in the Israeli village of Umm al-Fahm to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Six-Day War."

"The second charge leveled against him is that he has organised excursions for Arab/Israeli families to visit their parents and relatives in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. Some of these relatives had not seen each other since their initial separation some 53 years ago. The majority of those going on these family reunion trips were elderly people who had stated their desire to visit their long lost relatives living as refugees. Bishara’s two assistants, Ashraf Kortam and Musa Diab, were also indicted on this charge. Under repressive Israeli law, visits to Syria by an Israeli citizen have to be rubber stamped by the Ministry of the Interior."

"If convicted of the charges, Bishara faces a maximum jail term of three years and he would be effectively barred from holding public office."