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From Knesset black sheep to Qatar insider: Azmi Bishara
DUBAI, June 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A controversial Arab Israeli former
legislator who fled his homeland over a decade ago, Azmi Bishara is now among
the key diplomatic players in the crisis that estranges Qatar from Saudi
Arabia and other Gulf peers.
Once a Knesset black sheep over his pro-Palestinian stance, Bishara left
Israel in 2007, accused of advising Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, a
charge he denied.
A former Marxist and founder of Balad, an Arab Israeli political party,
Bishara has since reinvented himself as an Arab public intellectual, close to
Qatar’s circles of power.
He is an Israeli Arab, defined as descendants of Palestinians who remained
on their land when Israel was created in 1948. They account for around 17.5
percent of Israel’s population today.
Bishara is a major personality in Qatari media and has a Twitter following
of more than 1.4 million.
Critics of the 61-year-old Christian from Nazareth accuse him of
permanently shifting alliances — politics that have seen him labelled a
supporter of “terrorism”, along with his host Qatar.
– ‘Qatar’s Rasputin’ –
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt all cut ties with Qatar a year
ago, accusing the country of links to Sunni Islamist extremists and
supporting Shiite Iran.
Iran is the key regional ally of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Saudi Arabia’s
arch nemesis.
“Bishara plays a key role in Qatar’s approach to the region and the world
through media and research,” said Theodore Karasik of the Gulf State
Analytics research group.
“His role is indisputable,” Karasik told AFP. “Given the harsh intra-Gulf
fight, and the likelihood of a permanent cleavage, the Palestinian
intellectual is likely to continue to find safety in Doha”.
MORE/MR/ 1126 hrs
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On social media and regional TV broadcasts considered close to Saudi
Arabia and its allies, Bishara has been slammed as “Doha’s Rasputin”, a
Mossad agent and the “godfather of terrorism”.
“What has been written about Bishara in the Gulf media has been widely
exaggerated,” said Andreas Krieg, a defence expert at King’s College London
who has consulted for the Qatari government.
“He is a Christian Palestinian who used to have an Israeli passport. He
once was a socialist but has changed his political views over time,” Krieg
said.
“To call him a godfather of terrorism makes no sense.”
– Continuing controversy –
Bishara was a controversial figure long before his involvement into Qatari
politics.
He resigned from the Knesset in 2007, amid investigations into his alleged
role alongside Hezbollah in the war with Israel the year before.
He was also stripped of parliamentary immunity over what authorities said
were anti-Israeli comments and ties to Syria.
His books are banned in Saudi Arabia and in 2014 Riyadh demanded Qatar
shut down the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, a high-profile,
Doha-based think tank headed by Bishara.
“Since the UAE and Saudi view any form of dissidence and opposition as a
threat to the state, the liberal narratives of Bishara’s centre and media
outlets run counter to policies in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh promoting the myth of
authoritarian stability,” said Krieg.
Other critics say the mustachioed politician has only his personal
interests at heart.
And no matter the outcome of the Gulf crisis, analysts say he will likely
survive politically.
“If Qatar changes path then, of course, Bishara will run somewhere else,”
said Karasik.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1126 hrs