Azmi Bishara | Just Vision דילוג לתוכן העיקרי

Azmi Bishara

The glossary is comprised of nearly 250 terms related to the Israeli-Palestinian context. Given the rapidly shifting landscape, these terms cannot capture the full range of nuances, narratives and historical events. This tool is meant as a starting point and we encourage you to continue your exploration of this topic through further research. Last update and review: September 2015.

Azmi Bishara

(1956- ) A Palestinian citizen of Israel and political and intellectual figure. Prior to his entry into political life, Bishara taught for ten years at Birzeit University in the West Bank, including heading the Philosophy and Cultural Studies Department from 1994-1996. A founder and member of the National Democratic Assembly party, known as Balad, Bishara was elected to the Israeli Knesset in 1996. Balad and Bishara called for Israel to be "a state for all its citizens," infuriating right-wing Jewish Israelis, who unsuccessfully sought to get Balad kicked out of the Knesset, on grounds that this slogan violated a law that upheld Israel's status as a state for the Jewish people. Bishara resigned from parliament in 2007 and, as of 2015, is in self-exile after Israel opened a criminal investigation against him, claiming that he offered information to Hezbollah during Israel's 2006 Lebanon War; Bishara has denied these accusations. In 2011, the Israeli parliament stripped him of his pension and other Parliamentary benefits after passing a law related to revoking citizenship that has been nicknamed "the Bishara Bill." He currently resides in Qatar and serves as the General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. See "A lawmaker vanishes," The Economist, April 19, 2007; and "Knesset passes law revoking citizenship for treason," Jerusalem Post, Rebecca Ann Stoil, March 28, 2011.