Zouheir Bahloul (, ; born 24 December 1950) 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 ...

sports broadcaster, journalist and politician.

Biography

Bahloul was born in 1950 in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, Israel, to a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

family. His mother, who was a journalist, was offered the opportunity to manage a Muslim orphanage in

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

, and the family subsequently moved there. In 1974, he was hired as a researcher at the

Israel Broadcasting Authority The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017, succeeded by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station '' Kol Yi ...

. 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, an avid vegan, was married to Jamila until her death in 2010, and has three children.

Political career

In December 2014, Bahloul joined the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

. On 14 January 2015 he beat the member of

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 ...

and former minister

Raleb Majadele Raleb Majadele (, Levantine Arabic: ; , ; also spelt Ghaleb Majadele, born 5 April 1953) is an Israeli Arab politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party in three spells between 2004 and 2015, and became the country's firs ...

for the minority slot in the party's primary elections and was subsequently placed 17th on the

Zionist Union The Zionist Union (, translit. ''HaMaḥaneh HaẒiyoni'', lit. ''the Zionist Camp'') was a centre-left political alliance in Israel. It was established in December 2014 by the Israeli Labor Party and Hatnuah to create a joint electoral list ...

list for the 2015 Knesset elections.Israeli Arab sportscaster to get into game from inside Knesset
The Times of Israel, 5 December 2014 He stated that if elected, he would first focus on changing the national education system to foster more diversity and Jewish–Arab dialogue. In a 9 February 2015, interview with

Al-Monitor ''Al-Monitor'' is a news website launched in 2012 by the Arab-American entrepreneur Jamal Daniel. Based in Washington, D.C., ''Al-Monitor'' provides reporting and analysis from and about the Middle East. ''Al-Monitor'' is the recipient of the I ...

, Bahloul said he joined the

, an alliance of Labor and

Hatnuah Hatnua () was a liberal political party in Israel formed by former Israeli Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni to present an alternative to voters frustrated by the stalemate in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The pa ...

, because he saw the Labor Party's potential to integrate "the Arab population in the state's affairs" and because Hatnuah leader

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni (, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), foreign mini ...

had "stood like a bulwark against" anti-democratic legislation during her time as Justice Minister. He called on Arab parties to adopt a different strategy and demonstrate willingness to join a Labor-led coalition after the 2015 elections. He was subsequently elected to the Knesset when the Zionist Union won 24 seats in the March 2015 elections. In October 2018, he resigned from the Knesset due to his opposition to the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People.Arab lawmaker from Zionist Union quits Knesset over nation-state law
The Times of Israel, 16 October 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahloul, Zouheir 1950 births Living people Arab members of the Knesset Channel 1 (Israel) people Israeli Arab journalists Israeli male journalists Israeli sports journalists Israeli Labor Party politicians Israeli Muslims Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) People from Haifa Sports commentators Zionist Union politicians