A former Arab Knesset member started a one year jail term in Israel on Thursday after being convicted of illegally travelling to Syria, Quds Press reported.
Said Nafa, a Druze who served in the Knesset between 2007 and 2013, was sentenced last year after making the trip to an “enemy state”, Syria, in 2007.
He visited fellow Druze along with about 200 other members of the Druze community in Israel. He was consequently stripped of his parliamentary immunity in 2010.
Observers said that Nafa’s sentence was politically motivated which aimed to isolate Palestinians in Israel from Arabs living in other countries.
“Zionists considers contacts among people a humanitarian act just when it is among Jews,” he said, “but when it is among others, it is considered an aggression against the rights given by God for his chosen people.”
He added: “No one likes to be jailed and lose his freedom for one year, but I am content about this because I am being punished for the sake of my people.”
