Former MK Azmi Bishara, a founder of the Arab party Balad, fled Israel in 2007 after learning he was going to be arrested for aiding Hezbollah terrorists - and now he is unwanted in the Persian Gulf as well.
Bishara is still wanted for questioning in Israel for transmitting information to Hezbollah in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, helping them more accurately target Israeli citizens in their missile war against northern Israel. Until the 2011 passing of the "Bishara Law," the former MK was still receiving full pension from Israel, getting a total of 500,000 shekels (roughly $143,000).
However, Dubai's Deputy Police Commissioner Dahi Halfan on Monday demanded that Bishara leave the Persian Gulf and return to Israel, reports Yedioth Ahronoth. The former MK has been living in oil-rich Qatar, and working as a commentator for Al Jazeera.
Halfan accused Bishara of being involved in an "Israeli plot" to control the Gulf states, writing on Twitter, "Azmi Bishara. I'm a member of the security forces, and people in the Gulf don't want you anymore. Go back to the Israeli Knesset and tell them that their plot failed."
Last week, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates made an unprecedented decision to remove their ambassadors from Qatar, in a protest of perceived Qatari meddling in their internal affairs.
The countries charged Bishara's employer Al Jazeera, which is run by Qatar, of leading the meddling. Qatar has also been distanced from its Gulf neighbors in its support of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"The Arabs know, once a traitor always a traitor"
Former MK Michael Ben-Ari commented on the news on Facebook, saying Bishara "was an 'Arab Israeli' member of the Israeli academia, an MK and leader of a party in the Israeli Knesset. And all the while he served his masters in Syria, the murderous Assad dynasty."
"In the Lebanon War he aimed the Hezbollah rockets at the heart of the population of the state of Israel," noted Ben-Ari, adding that since fleeing Israel Bishara has become a "wanderer."
Ben-Ari commented on Bishara's predicament, noting "in the Arab world, when you're loyal to Syria, you're fighting Qatar. When you're loyal to Al Jazeera, you're the enemy of Saudi Arabia."
"I'm glad he made the mistake of running away from here," noted the former MK.
"If he had stayed and gone to trial, they would have turned us into the guilty party, for not receiving with love and affection the rockets that he aimed at us. And he would have continued cursing us from the Knesset, all in the name of freedom of expression."
Ben-Ari wished Bishara many years of wandering while accused by Arab states of treason, "because the Arabs know, once a traitor always a traitor."
In order to "sweeten the pill" of wandering, Ben-Ari suggested Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Baladi), who took part in the 2010 Mavi Marmara Flotilla that attacked IDF soldiers, be sent to join Bishara.