An Israeli Arab traitor?

The blogosphere is going nuts over accusations yesterday that Israel's most outspoken Arab leader, who fled the country last month and resigned from parliament Sunday, aided enemies of the state during last summer's war with Hezbollah.

Azmi Bishara claimed on Al Jazeera TV that Israeli leaders were trying to muzzle an oppositional voice:

Israel wants to use this as a tool in order to get rid of this position in Israel which calls for Israel to be the state of its citizens and accepting the national character of the Arabs in the country.

Whether or not Bishara did anything wrong, the accusations stand to stress the tenuous relationships of Arabs and Jews living together in Israel.

"In this difficult time me must increase Jewish-Arab cooperation and not be swept up by incitement against the Arab public," Labor MK Nadia Hilou told Haaretz.