Arab MK Ghattas Investigated for Security Offenses; Expert: 'He is stupid'

Jerusalem, 18 December, 2016 (TPS) -- Police announced that they have opened an investigation against MK Basel Ghattas, a member of the Balad faction of the Joint List party. Ghattas is suspected of crimes that may have compromised Israel’s national security.

Lt. Col. (res.) Dr Mordechai Kedar, a veteran of the IDF military intelligence apparatus and now an academic expert on the Arab world at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, told Tazpit Press Service (TPS) that he would not be surprised if Ghattas were to eventually be found guilty.

“I’ll put this in the simplest of terms: Ghattas is stupid. That’s it. I know him personally – he is shallow and stupid, completely mindless. Of course, I have no idea if there is any truth to the suspicions, but if they are I wouldn’t be surprised. He simply is not that bright,” Kedar said.

The suspicions against Ghattas follow on the heels of a rally last week sponsored by the municipality of Nazareth in honor of Baha Alyan, a member of a Palestinian cell that murdered three Israelis on a bus in Jerusalem last year. “Hundreds of elementary and high school students and young men and women of all ages” participated in the event organized by Nazareth municipality and the Inma’a Association for Democracy and Capacity Building. [Al-Quds, Dec. 11, 2016]

According to the Arabic-language al-Quds newspaper, event coordinator Saeb Masawrah said the “Nazareth municipality supported the project…as a completion of the message of Martyr Baha Alyan. who came out of Jerusalem.

“We are gathering here in order to emphasize our unity as Arabs everywhere, and we will complete the message in all of the Arab cities and villages,” Masawrah said(translation courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch).

In a phone interview with TPS, Mordechai Kedar said there is a clear connection between the suspicions against Ghattas and the rally in Nazareth, but he emphasize that the majority of Arab citizens of Israel reject violence, either because of a moral stance or because they understand that anti-Israel violence is ultimately detrimental to Palestinian interests.

“Of course there are some sectors of the Arab community that are supportive of Hamas, but I don’t believe it’s a majority. It’s mainly prevalent in the under-30 crowd, who are itching for ‘action,’ for a fight.

“But the majority understand that their future is with the State of Israel and they have tied their destiny to the State of Israel. They are very opposed to Hamas, violence, very much against celebrating terrorists. [Regardless of where their hearts are, in practical terms they understand that extremism doesn’t lead anywhere, leads to more violence, drives Israelis to be less prepared to compromise and less likely to be nice to the Arab community (in Israel),” Kedar said.