Azmi Bishara (Arabic: عزمي بشارة listenⓘ born 22 July 1956) is an Arab-Israeli public intellectual, political philosopher and author.

[2][3] Born in Nazareth, Israel, his political activity began when he founded the National Committee for Arab High School Students in 1974.

His mother was a school teacher and his father a health inspector and trade unionist with connections to the Communist Maki party; his siblings include Marwan (now a political commentator) and Rawia Bishara (a chef, cookbook writer and restaurateur).

[14] He went on to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem between 1977 and 1980,[14] where he chaired the Arab Students Union and was a member of the Front of Communist Students-Campus.

[15] Bishara is one of the founders of the Society for Arab Culture and of Muwatin,[16] the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy founded by a group of scholars and academics in 1992.

[18] In 1995, Bishara was at the head of a group of young Israeli Palestinian intellectuals who founded the political party National Democratic Assembly, Brit Le'umit Demokratit in Hebrew, short Balad.

"[27] In September 2006, shortly after the conclusion of the Lebanon war, Bishara again visited Syria and in a speech warned of the possibility that Israel might launch "a preliminary offensive in more than one place, in a bid to overcome the internal crisis in the country and in an attempt to restore its deterrence capability.

"[28] Bishara and members of his party also visited Lebanon, where they told the Lebanese prime minister that Hezbollah's resistance to Israel during the preceding summer's war had "lifted the spirit of the Arab people".

[29] Soon thereafter at Interior Minister Roni Bar-On's request, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered a criminal investigation against Balad MKs Bishara, Jamal Zahalka and Wasil Taha over the visit to Syria.

[30] In 2007, Bishara was questioned by police on suspicion of aiding and passing information to the enemy during wartime, contacts with a foreign agent, and receiving large sums of money transferred from abroad.

[31] Bishara denied the accusations and said they were part of an effort to punish him because he had opposed Israel's invasion of Lebanon the preceding summer.

[33] Bishara was accused of giving Hezbollah information on strategic locations in Israel that should be attacked with rockets during the 2006 Lebanon War, in exchange for money.

[34] According to court documents "Bishara was questioned twice in the case and during the last encounter he told interrogators that he intends to leave Israel for a couple of days.