Azmi Bishara facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Azmi Bishara
Faction represented in the Knesset
1996–2007	Balad
Personal details
Born	(1956-07-22) 22 July 1956 (age 68) Nazareth, Israel

Azmi Bishara (Arabic: عزمي بشارة born 22 July 1956) is an Arab-Israeli thinker, writer, and former politician. He is known for his ideas on politics and society. Currently, he is the General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and leads the Board of Trustees for the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Bishara was born in Nazareth, Israel. His journey into politics started in 1974 when he helped create the National Committee for Arab High School Students. Later, at university, he founded the Arab Students Union. In 1995, he started the Balad political party. He was elected to the Knesset (Israel's parliament) in 1996 and served until 2007. After visiting Lebanon and Syria following the 2006 Lebanon War, Bishara faced serious questions from authorities. He left Israel, denying any wrongdoing, and chose not to return, saying he would not get a fair trial. Since then, he has focused on his work as a scholar and researcher in Qatar. In 2017, he announced he would focus entirely on writing and intellectual work.

Azmi Bishara's Early Life and Learning

Bishara was born in Nazareth into a Christian Arab family. His mother was a teacher, and his father worked as a health inspector and a trade union leader. His family has lived in the Nazareth area for hundreds of years.

His political activities began when he was 18. In 1974, while in high school, he started the "National Committee of the Arab High School Students." He said he created this group to fight against unfair practices faced by Arab students.

During his time at the University of Haifa, he founded the Arab Students Union. He also helped start the Committee for the Defense of Arab Lands in 1976. He continued his studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1977 to 1980. There, he led the Arab Students Union. Later, he moved to Berlin and earned his PhD in philosophy from the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Azmi Bishara's Career Journey

His Work as a Scholar

After finishing his PhD in philosophy in 1986, Bishara became a professor. He taught at Birzeit University in the West Bank. He led the Philosophy and Cultural Studies Department from 1994 to 1996. He also worked as a senior researcher at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.

Bishara helped create the Society for Arab Culture. He also co-founded Muwatin, a Palestinian group focused on democracy studies, in 1992. He is also part of the board of trustees for the Arab Democracy Foundation.

Today, Bishara is the general director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar. This center is also known as the Doha Institute. He is also an important advisor to Qatar's former emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and the current emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad.

His Political Path

In 1995, Azmi Bishara led a group of young Israeli Palestinian thinkers. They founded a political party called National Democratic Assembly, or Balad for short. In 1996, he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Balad-Hadash list.

Bishara had planned to be the first Arab to run for Prime Minister in the 1999 election. However, he decided not to run just two days before the election.

In 2003, the Central Elections Committee tried to stop Bishara from running in the elections. They pointed to a new rule that banned candidates who supported "armed struggle against the State of Israel." They mentioned a speech Bishara gave in Syria where he talked about Arab states supporting Palestinian resistance. However, Israel's Supreme Court overturned this decision. The court explained that Bishara's speeches did not clearly support armed struggle by a terrorist group, even though they did show support for a certain organization.

After he was elected, the Knesset voted to remove his special protection as a member of parliament. Charges were filed against him for supporting a terror organization. But the Supreme Court dismissed these charges and gave him back his protection.

During the 2006 Israel–Lebanon War

During the 2006 Israel–Lebanon War, Bishara spoke out. He criticized the Israeli government for not providing bomb shelters to Arab areas in northern Israel. He also said that Israel was using Arabs as "human shields" by placing military units near Israeli Arab towns. Bishara believed that Arab Israelis would face problems after the war. He said, "If [the Israelis] lose, they will turn against us, if they win, they will turn against us."

In September 2006, after the war, Bishara visited Syria again. He warned that Israel might launch more attacks to solve its own problems and show its strength. Bishara and members of his party also visited Lebanon. They told the Lebanese prime minister that the resistance against Israel had "lifted the spirit of the Arab people." After these visits, authorities began an investigation into Bishara and other Balad members.

In 2007, Bishara was questioned by police. He was suspected of helping and sharing information with an enemy during wartime. He was also suspected of receiving large amounts of money from abroad. Bishara denied these accusations. He said they were an attempt to punish him for opposing Israel's actions in Lebanon.

His Resignation from the Knesset

On 22 April 2007, Bishara resigned from the Knesset. He did this through the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. This happened after a police investigation into his contacts abroad. He was accused of helping an enemy during wartime and handling money from foreign sources. Bishara denied all these claims. He said he was staying abroad because he believed he would not get a fair trial in Israel.

Later, a court allowed the public to know the specific accusations against Bishara. He was accused of giving information to Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War. This information was about important places in Israel that could be attacked with rockets. Investigators said Bishara suggested long-range rocket attacks that would help Hezbollah.

Bishara spoke to his supporters in Nazareth by phone in April 2007. He told them, "My guilt is that I love my homeland... our intellect and our words are our weapons. Never in my life did I draw a gun or kill anyone."

In 2008, the Knesset passed a new law, sometimes called the "Bishara Law." This law would stop anyone who visited an enemy country from being a member of the Knesset. Another "Bishara Law" in 2011 led to his pension as a Knesset member being stopped.

Syrian Uprising

Azmi Bishara has been involved in forming the Syrian National Coalition. This is a main group of Syrian opposition, supported by Qatar. Bishara reportedly advised Qatar's leaders. In July 2011, Bishara said that Syria's leader, Assad, could have stayed in power if he had made the changes people wanted. Bishara wrote that "The regime chose not to change, and so the people will change it."

Azmi Bishara's Personal Life

Bishara is married and has two children. In March 1997, he had a kidney transplant at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. According to his website, he is a citizen of Qatar.

His Published Works

Azmi Bishara has written many books and articles. Here are some of his works:

• Min yahudiyat al-dawla hata Sharon ("From the Jewishness of the State to Sharon") (2005)
• The Ruptured Political Discourse and Other Studies (Arabic, 1998)
• Two novels from a planned series: The Checkpoint (2004) and Love in the Shadow Zone (2005).

Books in Arabic

• On the Democratic Option: Four Critical Studies (1993)
• Civil Society and Democratic Change in Palestinian Society (1995)
• A Critical Perspective on Palestinian Democracy (1995)
• A Contribution to the Critique of Civil Society (1996)
• The Site of Meaning: Essays from the First Year of the Intifada (2002)
• In the Wake of the Israeli Invasion: Issues of Palestinian National Strategy (2002)
• Theses on a Deferred Awakening (2003)
• From the Jewishness of the State to Sharon (2005)
• The Elements of Democracy Series, as editor (12 publications from 1994–99)

Books and Articles in English

• "Religion and Democracy" in Jewish Identity in Modern Israel (2002)
• "The Palestinians of Israel: An Interview with Azmi Bishara" in The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid (2001)
• The Palestinian elections: an assessment (1997)
• Articles in Al-Ahram Weekly, including:
  • "Universal instincts" (2006)
  • "Ministry of strategic threats" (2006)
  • "Realities of death" (2006)
  • "A selective memory" (2006)
  • "Strong in spite of themselves" (2006)
  • "Initiative versus principle" (2007)
  • "Shattered illusions" (2007)
• "Why Israel is After Me" in Los Angeles Times (2007)
• "Israeli games again" (2007)
• "Ignorant thieves" (2007)
• "Headlong to more of the same" (2007)
• "US war insanity" (2007)
• "Madrid redux" (2007)

Books in German

• alles ändert sich die ganze Zeit: Soziale Bewegung(en) im "Nahen Osten" (1994)
• Die Araber und die Shoa. Über die Schwierigkeit dieser Konjunktion. (1994)
• Die Jerusalem Frage: Israelis und Palaestinenser im Gespräch (1996)

Awards and Honors

• The Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2002 (Berlin).
• The Global Exchange International Human Rights Award in 2003 (San Francisco).

See also

• Palestinian Christians