MK Basel Ghattas (Joint Arab List) on Sunday morning submitted his resignation to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, in accordance with his plea agreement over his attempt to smuggle mobile phones to Arab terrorists in Israeli prison.
Ghattas will be replaced by the next in line on his party’s Knesset list, Jomaa Azbarga. Azbarga, a Bedouin, has been associated with Israel’s leading HMO, Maccabi Health Services, directing three of its branches over the past 17 years.
Azbarga, 61, is married and has nine children. His home has been slated for demolition by the Interior Ministry.
According to the plea deal with Ghattas, which is yet to be approved by the Magistrate’s Court in Be’er Sheva, he will spend two years in jail as well as receive probation for providing means for carrying out terror attacks, fraud and breach of trust.