As Arab MKs yelled out that the Knesset had delivered another blow to democracy, MK Said Nafa (Balad) said that he was "not surprised" Tuesday after the House Committee voted to strip him of his parliamentary immunity. Nafa, who was charged in December with illegally visiting an enemy country, said immediately following the nine-to-two vote that "I did not mean to hurt the country's security. I did not hurt the country's security. I have a long process ahead of me in the court where I will fight for my innocence, and the matter of immunity will be discussed there as well."
In mid-December, Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced that Nafa would be indicted for violating both the Penal Law and the Emergency Defense Regulations by visiting Syria without permission and for allegedly meeting with Talal Naji, deputy secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas political bureau, during the trip.
Nafa is accused of organizing the September 2007 visit of 300 Israeli Druse religious leaders to Syria after the Druse religious leaders requested permission for the visit and were turned down. By law, Israelis may only visit enemy countries if they receive permission from the Interior Minister.
"The decision to try me is strange and hints of discrimination," said Nafah. "All I did was part of my role as a member of Knesset - that is what I said at the time, what I said throughout the investigation, and what I say now."
Nafah reiterated his claims that he served as a member of a delegation that involved senior Druse religious officials, who were visiting religious sites and co-religionists in Syria. Nafah argued that since 2000, thousands of Israelis had visited Syria against the law, but that only two people were indicted for the trip - a resident of the Galilee and his predecessor as Balad chairman, Azmi Bishara. Bishara was not tried for the trip as a result of the parliamentary immunity afforded to him at the time.
MK Ahmad Tibi (UAL) said that Interior Minister Eli Yishai had asked that former US president Jimmy Carter help him arrange a meeting with Mashaal, but that Mashaal refused. Tibi also pointed to a recent incident in which Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov shook hands with his Iranian counterpart at Europe's largest travel and tourism expo. "What would have happened if the Iranian minister had asked to meet with him in a shady corner? You all would have congratulated him for the achievement, because its Misezhnikov. Because he's not an Arab."
Tibi was one of the most vocal participants in the almost
four-hour-long hearing, in which Mazuz himself took the position of
arguing against retaining Nafa's parliamentary immunity.
"In
spite of a specific answer from the Interior Minister in which he was
told not to travel to Syria, Nafa and his comrades ignored the
decision, traveled to Jordan and there, with the help of Bishara, who
negotiated between them and the Syrian administration, received
permission to enter, and stayed in Syria for approximately one week,"
argued Mazuz.
Among the most outspoken opponents of Nafa was MK
Anastasia Michaeli (Israel Beiteinu), who reiterated her party's
election slogan "No loyalty, No citizenship," and said that she would
sponsor a law against visiting enemy states that would strip violators
of their citizenship and mandate their repatriation to the states that
they visited.