Bishara may be charged with treason

The gag order has been lifted on Azmi Bishara, the Arab Member of Knesset who fled Israel a few weeks ago under suspicion.

He gave Hizballah information that helped them in the war. I do believe that Fifth Column in Israel really seems to exist.

The gag order on the allegations made against former Knesset Member Azmi Bishara was lifted on Wednesday, three weeks after rumors began circulating regarding the investigation against him.

According to suspicions, Balad’s chairman contacted a Hizbullah official during last summer’s war in Lebanon and handed him information on strategic locations in Israel in order to enable the Shiite organization to fire rockets at these destinations. Bishara allegedly received hundreds of thousands of shekels in exchange for this information.

Even the AP seems to be taking the charges seriously.

Shai said Bishara offered Hezbollah suggestions on “how to deepen the harm to Israel” during last summer’s fighting, when the guerrilla group fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel. The assistance included advice on how Israel might respond to long-range rocket attacks.

Bishara passed on “certain military information, the publication of which was forbidden by the censor,” Shai said. He declined to elaborate, but during the war, the military censor banned any publication of where rocket fire landed — raising the possibility that Bishara helped the group improve its aim.

“Azmi Bishara was seen by the enemy as a reliable figure in helping them understand the Israeli reality and advance the interest of the enemy,” Shai said.

Another Arab MK says Bishara should come back to Israel and face the music.

Barakeh, himself an Arab MK, responded that Arab MKs know they must “recognize the right of the law to hold them to account,” even if they disagree with a law and therefore deliberately choose to violate it. As an example, he cited the law that forbade Israelis from having contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization – a law that was repeatedly violated by MKs prior to the Oslo peace process. “We broke the law and we knew we’d pay a price,” he said.

All the same, Barakeh said that Israeli Arabs have become targets of incitement.

“There is currently a wave of incitement against the Arab population,” he said. “Bishara has been judged before being put on trial. Every frustrated politician is trying to jump all over us.”

Yeah, because it’s so not normal for people to judge someone based on news reports of what they’ve done. “Jenin massacre,” anyone?

Yeah, because it’s not like