Arab candidate Bahloul: Right can’t handle someone ‘unusual’

Arab-Israeli sportscaster Zouheir Bahloul is keeping his eye on the ball as he runs for a seat in the 20th Knesset. Seventeenth on the Zionist Camp (Labor-Hatnua) list and focused on promoting Jewish-Arab coexistence, he’s staying on message and not letting his detractors knock him off his game.

For example, Bahloul is not fazed by an accusation leveled at him late last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, in an effort to discredit his opponents on the left, alleged that he had praised a Hezbollah agent.

“Once again the true nature of the anti-Zionist camp of Tzipi [Livni] and Bujie [Isaac Herzog] comes to light,” Netanyahu said in a video he posted to Facebook. “When a potential member of Knesset gives character testimony in praise of Hezbollah, what more is there to say?”

Netanyahu was referring to Bahloul having been called as a character witness at the March 2013 trial of Milad Khatib, an Israeli Arab accused (and eventually convicted) of aiding Hezbollah.

According to a report on the Walla news site (Hebrew), citing court records, Bahloul did not praise the accused himself, but rather the Khatib family’s efforts to bring Jews and Arabs together.

“I have come here with an aching heart and a tortured spirit,” Bahloul told the judge. “…This is a normative family that exemplifies cooperation and dialogue with the Jewish community… I was more than stunned to hear about the accused. I don’t know if he deviated from his family’s path.”

Bahloul said that Netanyahu was grasping at straws.

‘This just proves that Bibi and the right are under a lot of pressure’

“This just proves that Bibi [Netanyahu] and the right are under a lot of pressure. They’re just lashing out at someone who is unusual,” he told The Times of Israel.

“I said that the family was in good relations with Jews and that the son’s alleged actions did not reflect the family’s coexistence efforts. These are the kinds of families I have supported and will continue to support,” he said.

“I didn’t know the son and I said so. I said it under oath, and it’s all on the record.”

Bahloul said he chose to run with the Labor Party not only because he believes it supports his coexistence goals and is a political home for Jews and Arabs alike, but also because it has a good chance of coming to power.

“With Labor, I’ll have more of an opportunity to do the things I want to do in terms of bridging between Jews and Arabs,” he said.

With Labor expected to win around 25 seats according to the latest polls, Bahloul is more than likely to make it into the Knesset. Whether his party will lead the government or sit in the opposition is yet to be determined.

Either way, Bahloul is pleased with his position at No. 17 on the Zionist Camp list.

“I was a candidate for only 21 days. I think my campaign was the shortest ever for a primary, and more than a third of primary voters ended up voting for me,” he said.

While Bahloul is certain the Zionist Camp is the right base from which to strengthen the Israeli identity of Israeli Arabs, he is pleased that the Arab parties have created a united list to run in these elections.

“It’s been the dream to see this happen, but not if their strategy is to stay in the corner and not be part of the democratic process. I call on the other parties to accept the united Arab list as part of the system,” he continued.

‘I’m not into definitions and labels. I’m more about getting things done’

Although Bahloul knows his role is to convince Israeli Arabs to vote for Labor, he is also spending a lot of time on the campaign trail talking to Israeli Jews about his peace and equality agenda.

A veteran sportscaster, Bahloul knows he is a household name to most Israelis. Just last week, a joke was made on the “Eretz Nehederet” satirical television show about “Zouheir Bahloul’s groupies” being a key demographic among Zionist Camp voters.

Bahloul said he isn’t going to let anything bother him as he campaigns between now and March 17. He is taking the groupie joke in stride. And on a more serious note, he’s ignoring attacks against him, be they from Netanyahu or from right wingers who claim that he, as someone who identifies as a Palestinian-Arab citizen of Israel, does not belong in a Zionist party.

“I’m not into definitions and labels. I’m more about getting things done,” Bahloul said.