Racism cite below
JERUSALEM - Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara announced his resignation from parliament Sunday, weeks after leaving the country amid a police investigation. BisharaÂ’s office said he tendered his resignation at the Israel Embassy in Egypt. Police said last week they had launched an investigation into Bishara, but were barred by a court order from giving details. Israeli media have speculated the probe could lead to charges ranging from treason to corruption.
| The corruption part is easy, every Israeli pol is corrupt ... |
Bishara, 50, leads the National Democratic Assembly, an Arab party which has three members in the 120-seat Israeli parliament. IsraelÂ’s Arab citizens make up about 20 percent and growing of the countryÂ’s population. Interviewed by Al Jazeera satellite TV on Sunday, Bishara did not indicate when, or even if, he intended to return to Israel, where he says his opponents would make political capital of the police inquiry. 'Now I have become an ordinary citizen,Â’ he said. Now there are new rules for the game in which I define the limits, rules where the investigation does not touch my ideological and political position nor my social standing within the Palestinian people.Â’
| "I'm in Cairo. Nyeh, nyeh!" |
He once summed up the situation of Arabs who found themselves part of Israel when it was formed in 1948 out of part of what had been British-ruled Palestine. We didnÂ’t come to Israel,Â’ he said. Israel came to us.Â’ BisharaÂ’s frequent visits to Syria and Lebanon have angered Jewish lawmakers, who have accused him of treason for calling on Arabs around the world to support the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel. He outraged many Israelis when, on one of his trips to Syria, he sat next to the leader of LebanonÂ’s Hezbollah militia at a memorial service for SyriaÂ’s late President Hafez Assad.
Update:
AN ARAB MP said to be Israel's most controversial politician yesterday resigned from parliament and announced he would stay abroad for a time because of a "racist" climate in the country. He handed in his resignation at the Israeli embassy in Cairo yesterday, which removes his immunity from prosecution as an MP, saying he had commitments in other countries. Mr Bishara said that if he stayed in Israel, legal proceedings could continue for many years and he would not be able to leave the country. "There is no point now to clinging to parliamentary status and immunity within this racist orchestra," he said. |