Report: Israeli Arab Knesset Member to Serve Two Years for Security Offenses

The Algemeiner reports: JNS.org – Israeli-Arab Knesset Member Basel Ghattas will plead guilty and serve two years in prison after being charged with smuggling cellphones and other materials to Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails. As part of a deal signed with the Israeli State Attorney’s Office Thursday, Ghattas is required to immediately resign from his Knesset seat.

The original indictment against Ghattas included charges of providing the means to carry out acts of terror, violating Israel Prison Service directives, fraud and breach of trust. The indictment now excludes the original charge of aiding and abetting a terrorist organization.

The state plans to ask the court to attribute moral turpitude to Ghattas’s offenses, a conviction which, under Israeli law, bars the individual in question from serving in public office for seven years.

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