MK Naffaa to be indicted for contact with foreign agent in Syria
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decides to put Balad Knesset member on trial for alleged contact with foreign agent during 2007 trip to Syria when he met with PFLP number two and tried to meet with Khaled Mashaal
MK Said Naffaa (Balad) will have his parliamentary immunity suspended and will be issued with an indictment for allegedly contacting a foreign agent following a meeting he held with Deputy Director General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Talal Naji in Syria.
Naffaa reportedly also visited the offices of Hamas politburo chief, Khaled Mashaal, but did not meet with him during his 2007 trip to Syria. He will also be indicted for aiding and abetting illegal departure to an enemy country and illegal departure to an enemy country.
Naffaa claimed the decision to indict him was due to his Druze origins. "This decision is very strange," he said, and added that similar cases against other MKs had been thrown out of court.
"Everything I did, in truth, I did as part of the fulfillment of my duties as an MK and representative of the public, and I will fight this decision with all of the tools I possess," Naffaa added.
The indictment that will be issued against him in the Nazareth District Court will state that Syria is, by law, an enemy state.
"In June 2007, the defendant contacted the interior minister with a request to authorize the departure of Druze religious leaders, citizens of Israel, to Syria. However, the requested permission was not received due to security concerns," the drafted indictment reads.
Despite being turned down, MK Naffaa allegedly made contact among eight religious figures and organized their departure to Syria. On September 6, 2007, he traveled with 282 passengers in a bus from Israel to Jordan, where they stayed a number of days. MK Naffaa then contacted the Syrian embassy there to obtain entry permits to Syria along with the help of former MK Azmi Bishara.
After receiving the permits, the group entered Syria together with Naffaa and stayed there fore about a week.
"In the aforementioned events, the defendant illegally departed for Syria without a legal permit from the interior minister or the prime minister, and knowingly aided a group of about 280 people to travel to an enemy country without a legal permit," the indictment will read.
