Senior Palestinian Israelis condemn arrest of party officials

High-ranking Arab politicians in Israel condemned the latest wave of political arrests made by Israeli police on Sunday morning, after 20 officials and activists from a leading party were detained.

The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into the financing of the Balad party, which is one of the few political parties in Israel that represents the views of the Arab minority there.

At a news conference in Jerusalem, key figures - including Balad Knesset member Jamal Zahalka and Kamal Khatib, from the Islamic Movement in Israel - condemned the arrests.

Zahalka described them as “provocative,” and said claims made by the Israeli authorities “had no basis”. He told reporters that computers were siezed from the party’s offices by police and the arrests were an example of the Israelis trying to “silence Palestinians actively seeking to have a voice in Israel”.

Zahalka said the arrests were another case of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “wanting to hurt Arabs who speak out against him”.

He added: “The arrests are being used to scare Palestinians by using false information to arrest us and a means to stop Palestinians wanting to change their situation.”

Khatib, from the Islamic Movement, told reporters that for Palestinians living there, Israel is like a “police state”.

He said: “There is a police-state atmosphere sweeping through Israel at present, where if you are against the state, they will come for you.

“They came for us and are now coming for everyone else who speaks out against them.”

The news conference was hosted by the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel, an extra parliamentary umbrella organisation representing affairs concerning Arab citizens of Israel.

The committee collectively denounced the move as an attempt to silence Israel’s Arab minority, which accounts for almost 18 percent of the country's eight million population and is largely supportive of the Palestinian cause.

Balad is especially critical of Israeli policies, and one of its members of parliament, Haneen Zoabi, has frequently angered Israeli officials.

No MPs were among those arrested.

"More than 20 suspects, including officials and activists in the Balad party, among them lawyers and accountants," were detained, police said.

The arrests were made "on suspicion of fraud in connection with funds received that were used to finance the party's activities".

The arrests followed a state comptroller investigation.

Members of Balad were accused of creating a mechanism that for years misrepresented "the origin of millions of shekels" obtained from within Israel and abroad, police said.

Authorities did not provide further information on the alleged sources of financing.

The suspects were to face remand hearings later on Sunday.

Balad called the charges "arbitrary," and a means to intimidate the party, stressing that all its political and financial dealings were within the law.

"This is a dangerous escalation and another stage in the political persecution of the Arab minority and political movements," it said, adding that the arrests were cover for "silencing Balad" and damaging its ability to act as "the spearhead in the struggle against repression and discrimination".

Balad, an Arabic acronym for National Democratic Assembly, is part of the Joint List, a coalition of Arab Israeli parties in parliament.

The Joint List holds 13 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, of which three are held by Balad. It is the third-largest bloc in the legislature.

Balad's three MPs triggered outrage among Jewish Israelis earlier this year when they met bereaved relatives of Palestinians who the authorities say were killed while carrying out attacks.

In response, parliament passed a controversial law in July allowing the expulsion of MPs deemed guilty of racial incitement or supporting armed struggle against Israel.

Analysts have said the law will be extremely difficult to put into practice, as any expulsion would require the support of 90 of the 120 MPs.

Balad founder, the former Knesset member Azmi Bishara, fled Israel in 2007 amid allegations that he advised the Shia militia Hezbollah and directed its rocket fire against Israel during the Lebanon war of the previous year.