Amnesty international has issued a scathing condemnation of Israel's arrest of suspected Hezbollah spies Ameer Makhoul and Dr. Omar Sayid. According to a statement issued by the group on Wednesday, the arrests on charges of "contact with a foreign agent" are part of a "part of a broader pattern of state repression."

 

Makhoul was arrested in his Haifa home on May 6^th and is currently is in detention in Petach Tikva. After a court imposed gag order on the arrest was lifted, it was reported that the Israeli-Arab had been in contact with agents of the Hezbollah terrorist organization based in Southern Lebanon.

 

The offices of the Arab NGO coalition Ittijah, which Makhoul heads, were also raided in connection with the case.

 

Amnesty dismissed the charges of espionage, only briefly mentioning them in their statement.

 

Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty Internation's Middle East and North Africa Program, accused Israel of "pure harassment" and described the alleged spy as a "prisoner of conscience," a possible reference to Makhoul's staunch opposition to Israel's existence as a Jewish and Zionist state.

 

At the time of Israel's 2009 Cast Lead Gaza incursion, Makhoul admitted that he was one of the major players in efforts to have senior Israeli officials arrested abroad through the use of universal jurisdiction laws. Makhoul, described by Amnesty International as a human rights defender, further stated that Hamas' rocket fire against Israeli civilians did not constitute a war crime.

 

Makhoul is also a vigorous defender of Sheikh Rael Salah, the leader of Israel's Northern Islamic Movement who was once convicted of raising funds for Hamas and has been arrested on numerous occasions for inciting violence against Jews.

 

"Above all the most colonial and racist law in Israel is the law of return and law of citizenship which is the basis for all discrimination," Makhoul recently told the anti-Zionist Electronic Intifada website.

 

The Petach Tikva Magistrate's Court yesterday extended Makhoul's remand by five days.

 

According to Israel's Internal Security Minister Yitzcchak Aharonovitch "Most of the investigation was carried out in the dark and cannot be detailed, but the affair is far from over."

 

Amnesty International's statement went on to describe the Israeli Central Election Committee's 2009 decision to ban the Israeli-Arab National Democratic Party (Balad) from participation in elections as proof to Makhoul's assertion that Israel is engaged in " state repression against the peaceful political activities" of Israeli Arabs. The decision, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court, was made after party head Azmi Bishara fled Israel in 2007 following an investigation into his connection with Hezbollah during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

 

Israeli officials claim that Balad "did not recognize Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state" while supporting terrorism.

 

Bishara visited Syria, which exists in a state of war with Israel, in 2001 and 2006 and expressed his support for Hezbollah, which he called a "legitimate liberation movement."

 

Recently elected Balad MK Hanin Zoabi summed up her party's view of Israel when she stated that "Rejecting the 'Jewish state' concept will block the road for anyone who demands our loyalty to such a state." The freshman MK also called on Iran to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent to what she termed Israeli aggression.