MK BISHARA RESIGNS FROM KNESSET; REPLACED BY DRUZE

S E C R E T TEL AVIV 001212 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR IS LE SUBJECT: MK BISHARA RESIGNS FROM KNESSET; REPLACED BY DRUZE LAWYER SAID NAFA REF: TEL AVIV 1147 Classified By: Political Counselor Marc Sievers for reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (U) MK Azmi Bishara, leader of the Arab nationalist Balad Party, resigned his Knesset seat at the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on April 22. According to press reports, Bishara entered the Embassy unannounced and, accompanied by fellow Balad MK Wasil Taha, presented Israeli Ambassador Shalom Cohen with a letter of resignation addressed to Knesset Speaker Dahlia Itzik. Bishara's resignation takes effect April 24, after which his seat in the Knesset will go to Sa'id Nafa, a Druze lawyer who was once imprisoned for refusing to serve in the IDF (Bio para 4). In public comments, Bishara has remained vague about his near-term plans, saying only that he has a number of other speaking engagements in Middle Eastern countries before deciding whether or when to return to Israel. We understand from Embassy Doha that Bishara intends to speak at a conference in Qatar on April 24. ¶2. (U) In comments to Al-Jazeera following his resignation, Bishara said he wanted to quit earlier but needed to retain his parliamentary immunity in light of the investigation against him. He said he decided to quit now because it was "useless" to remain in the Knesset "in light of the rightist, racist, and fascist clamor against us (Israeli Arabs) in the country." He explained his decision to resign while in Cairo by saying, "If I return to tender my resignation, I would not be able to leave before one, two or three years because the investigations and trial -- even if I am eventually acquitted -- will take at least three years." On April 22 the Jerusalem Post quoted participants in a weekend meeting at the Egyptian Press Syndicate as saying that Bishara told them he was being investigated for "providing an enemy with information at a time of war, visiting an enemy country, and bringing money illegally into the state of Israel." ¶3. (S/NF) If true, Bishara's statement would track with comments made by Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin and other Embassy contacts last week, indicating that Bishara was being investigated for serious national security-related crimes. One NSC contact confided to us that the security services had strong enough evidence to charge Bishara with treason for passing information to Hizballah during last summer's war in southern Lebanon (reftel). Bio Note on Sa'id Nafa -------------- ¶4. (U) Bishara's replacement in the Knesset, Sa'id Nafa, 54, joined Balad in 1999, four years after it was formed by Bishara. Prior to joining Balad, Nafa was an active, longtime member of the Communist Party. In 1983 he earned a law degree from Tel Aviv University. During the 1990s he served as Head and Deputy Head of the local authority for his community of Beit Jann. In 2001, he was a founder of the "Pact of Free Druze" movement that sought to distance the Israeli Druze community from the Jewish state by demanding a halt to IDF conscription and by encouraging Druze citizens to identify themselves as an integral part of the Palestinian people. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** JONES