Zouheir Bahloul

Zouheir Bahloul
Date of birth (1950-12-24) 24 December 1950
Place of birth Acre, Israel
Knessets 20
Faction represented in Knesset
2015–2018 Zionist Union

Zouheir Bahloul (Arabic: زهير بهلول‎, Hebrew: זוהיר בהלול‎; born 24 December 1950) is an Arab-Israeli sports broadcaster, journalist and politician.

Biography

Bahloul was born in 1950 in Haifa, Israel, to a Muslim Arab family. His mother who was a journalist was offered to manage a Muslim orphanage in Acre, and subsequently moved to that city. In 1974, he was hired as a researcher at the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Later, he became a sports announcer. He broadcast various athletic competitions for radio and television on Channel 1.

While mainly working in sports broadcasting, Bahloul has also worked as a journalist, focused on promoting the Arab sector in Israel. During the 1990s he presented current events programs and talk shows in Arabic.

Bahloul was married to Jamila until her death in 2010, and has three children.

Political career

In December 2014, Bahloul joined the Israeli Labor Party. On January 14, 2015, in the party primaries, he beat the member of Knesset and former minister Raleb Majadele for the minority slot and placed 17th in the Zionist Union list.[1][2] As a parliamentarian, Bahloul says he will first focus on changing the national education system to foster more diversity and Jewish–Arab dialogue.[2]

In a February 9, 2015, interview with Al-Monitor, Bahloul said he joined the Zionist Union, an alliance of Labor and Hatnuah, because he saw the Labor Party's potential to integrate "the Arab population in the state's affairs" and because Tzipi Livni, as justice minister, had "stood like a bulwark against" anti-democratic legislation. He called on Arab parties to adopt a different strategy and demonstrate willingness to join a Labor-led coalition after the 2015 elections.[3]

In 2018, he resigned from the Knesset due to his opposition to the Israeli Parliament's Nation-State Bill known as Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People.[4]

References

  1. ↑ For Labor, a primary focused on women, unity and victory The Times of Israel, 13 January 2015
  2. 1 2 Israeli Arab sportscaster to get into game from inside Knesset The Times of Israel, 5 December 2014
  3. ↑ Shlomi Eldar (9 February 2015). "Labor candidate calls for coalition with Arab parties". Al-Monitor.
  4. ↑ "Israel MP quits over 'nation state' law". BBC News. 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
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