Israel arrests more Arab-Israeli leaders

A total of 13 members of a prominent Arab political party have been arrested in Israel on suspicion of fraud.

A total of 36 members of the Balad partyu have now been detained, including party officials and activists.

“The arrests aim to intimidate and scare, nothing else,” the party said in response to the arrests.

The Israeli Magistrate Court in Haifa yesterday extended the detention of the Chairman of the party Awad Abdelfattah until Sunday, the Safa news agency reported.

On Sunday, Balad MP Jamal Zahalka said they faced “baseless accusations”.

Balad, an acronym for its full name, National Democratic Assembly in Hebrew, is part of the Joint List, a coalition of Palestinian parties in the Israeli parliament.