Joint Arab List MKs: Investigation a political witch hunt
As Balad MKs Hanin Zoabi and Jamal Zahalka are questioned over a series of corruption allegations leveled against the party, both deny any wrongdoing, accuse state of ‘trying to humiliate the party.’
Joint Arab List Hanin Zoabi and Jamal Zahalka, arrived at the offices of the Israel Police's investigations unit Monday morning for questioning as part of an ongoing case into a corruption scandal involving their political party.
Dozens of protesters turned up outside the offices in solidarity with the MKs to protest against “the political witch hunt against (Arab) MKs.”
Zoabi, whose provocative and openly anti-Israel statements and deeds have repeatedly placed her under the spotlight, commented on the investigation.
“We have not committed any crime. This is a witch hunt that is continuing without any reason,” she adamantly declared.
“We are protesting against the murders and the crimes that the police have not managed to prevent,” the protesters added as they vented their anger with the apparent sluggishness in bringing quiet and security to the streets of Arab neighborhoods.
Zoabi went on to say that the investigation was entirely unjustified, positing that it was merely a diversion from the failures of the police. “Instead of the police employing officers to eradicate the phenomenon of violence and crime which constitutes a danger to our lives, it is sending 3,000 policemen on a political witch hunt while it sends 30 policemen to a murder scene,” Zoabi said.
“The police claim that we subsidize nationalist activities. In my opinion there is nothing criminal about this and we will continue to support them,” she added before turning on the prime minister.
“If there is anything that they need to investigate it is the prime minister.I am sure that if this had happened with Jewish activists, there would have been no arrest warrants. Yet when it comes to Balad, the treatment is totally different.”
For his part Jamal Zahalka told Israel Radio that the party has provided all required documentation to the state comptroller’s office, but added that the very existence of a police investigation was a premeditated strike against Balad.
“Financially, we have nothing to hide. We’ve given all our reporting to the state comptroller and I think the entire issue should begin and end there,” Zahalka said. “But the very fact that the file was transferred to the police was a political move. It was aimed at hurting Balad.”
The investigation began last month when police suspected, based on information received from a State Comptroller report that illicit funds amounting to millions of shekels had been smuggled for political activities into Israel from the Arab world by various means, including inside suitcases filled with cash.
The probe expanded with the arrest of 13 additional suspects, including senior party members shortly thereafter.
During the investigation, searches were conducted in the homes and offices of the key suspects during which important documents and bank statements connected with the case were discovered.
Overall, more than 20 suspects were arrested on suspicion of surreptitiously accumulating funds and attempting to conceal their origins while carrying out a string of crimes. These included, inter alia, the falsification of corporate documents, forgery, the use of forged documents, money laundering, and contraventions of political party financing laws.
Andrew Friedman/TPS contributed to this article
