Said Nafa (, , also Said Naffaa, born 1 April 1953) is an

Israeli Arab The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...

politician and lawyer. A

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

citizen of Israel, he served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for Balad between 2007 and 2013.

Biography

Born into a family of the

faith in

Beit Jann Bayt Jann (; ) is a Druze village on Mount Meron in northern Israel. At 940 meters above sea level, Bayt Jann is one of the highest inhabited locations in the country. In it had a population of . Etymology Guérin noted that the village was ...

in 1953, Nafa joined the Communist Party Maki at age 14. He studied law at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, graduating in 1983. In 1989, he was elected to his hometown's local council as a representative of Maki, and also served as mayor and deputy mayor in the 1990s. Nafa left the Maki party in 1997, and joined the Arab party Balad in 1999, along with a large group consisting of other members of the Druze community in Israel. In 2001, he announced the "Pact of Free Druze", an initiative aimed at ending the conscription of Druze into the Israeli army and promoting the community's identity as an integral part of the Palestinian Arab population in Israel and the

Palestinian people Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous ...

at large. Nafa himself is a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

who was jailed several times for refusing to carry out his army service and four of his sons have also stood trial for refusing to enlist. Another committee founded by Nafa in 2003 seeks to facilitate contacts between Druze leaders in Israel and elsewhere in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

, principally

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Prior to the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential e ...

Nafa was placed fourth on the Balad list. Although Balad won only three seats in the election, he entered the Knesset on 24 April 2007 as a replacement for party leader

Azmi Bishara Azmi Bishara ( born 22 July 1956) is an Arab-Israeli public intellectual, political philosopher and author. He is presently the General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of th ...

, who had resigned. He was placed second on the party's list for the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendum ...

, and retained his seat as the party won three mandates. In the end of February 2012, Nafa was a guest of honor in a rally supporting

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

and his regime in Syria. He stated that he came to support the regime and condemn the foreign coalition that was formed to prevent Assad's reform attempts. He also said that the western coalition made up the "genocide" and is (the western coalition) responsible for the death of Syrian children, by supplying weapons to the gangs. According to Israeli prosecutors, Nafa also met with Talal Naji, the Secretary-General of the

PFLP The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

while in Syria. In December 2011, Nafa was indicted for illegally entering an enemy state and contacting a foreign agent. Nafa did not contest the 2013 elections and subsequently lost his Knesset seat. On April 6, 2014, Nafa was convicted of illegally entering an enemy state and on one count of contact with a foreign agent. He was acquitted of a second count of contacting a foreign agent. On September 4, 2014, he was sentenced to one year in prison. Nafa lives in

and is married with nine children.Attorney Said Nafa to replace MK Bishara in case of resignation
Haaretz, 10 April 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nafa, Said 1953 births Living people 20th-century Israeli lawyers 21st-century Israeli lawyers Balad (political party) politicians Deputy mayors of places in Israel Druze members of the Knesset Israeli Druze people Israeli government officials convicted of crimes Israeli politicians convicted of crimes Mayors of places in Israel Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) Members of the 18th Knesset (2009–2013) People from Northern District (Israel) Tel Aviv University alumni

Biography

See also

References

External links