Ex-MK on the lam Bishara said behind Balad about-face

24 September 2019, 2:40 pm

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The Globes business daily reports that the man behind the Balad party’s decision to pull support for Benny Gantz as prime minister is faction founder Azmi Bishara, currently on the run from Israel.

Balad initially joined the rest of the Joint List in endorsing Gantz to President Reuven Rivlin, but hours later announced it had changed its mind.

In this photo taken on April 22, 2007 Arab then-Knesset member Azmi Bishara talks on his mobile phone in front of the Arab league headquarters after a meeting with the Secretary General Amr Mussa in Cairo. (AFP PHOTO/Khaled DESOUKI)

Bishara fled Israel for Qatar after being accused of passing information to the Hezbollah terror group. According to Globes, citing unnamed “Arab political sources,” he continues to exert influence over the hard-line Palestinian nationalist party and forced it into the reversal.

The party’s MK Mtanes Shihada tells Globes he rejects the account and says Bishara does not have any link with Balad anymore.