Israeli Arab Knesset member Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab Joint List faction, announced in a Facebook post that he visited with the family in the Syrian Golan, and “with … the beloved fighter Eyal Abu Jabal.
“The Golan is beautiful with its cherries and apples in the spring, and with its snow in the winter, but it is more beautiful with its delicious people,” Odeh wrote.
Eyal Abu Jabal, a resident of the Israeli Druze village of Majdal Shams, served as part of a Syrian spy network that sent explosive envelopes to Israelis, and transferred materials to Syrian intelligence, according to a Hebrew-language tweet by Israeli journalist Yishai Friedman.
עודה טייל ב"גולן הסורי" עם משפחתו וקטף דובדבנים. הוא היה במחיצת האיל אבו ג'בל ממג'דל שמס אותו תיאר כ"לוחם אהוב". במה באה לידי ביטוי לוחמנותו של אבו ג'בל? הוא היה חלק מרשת ריגול סורית ששלחה מעטפות נפץ לישראלים והעבירה חומרים למודיעין הסורי. ישב בכלא והשתחרר בעסקת שבויים. לוחם סורי pic.twitter.com/WVEkGZJHvz
— ישי פרידמן (@IshayFridman) June 6, 2022
Abu Jabal “was incarcerated in an [Israeli] prison. He was released in a prisoner swap deal,” Friedman wrote. “A Syrian fighter.”
Abu Jabal is not the first Israeli Druze to spy on behalf of Syria, and Majdal Shams, located along the border with Syria, is known for its virulently anti-Israel stance.
Israel’s domestic intelligence agency (Shin Bet) arrested a number of Druze residents of the village in 2015 on suspicion of spying on the IDF for Syria, including Tzadki Suleiman Ahmed Makat, convicted of passing Israeli military information to Syrian intelligence.
IDF Cpl. Halal Halabi, a resident of the Galilee Druze city of Daliyat al-Karmel, was indicted the same year on charges of passing classified information to a citizen from Majdal Shams on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Druze civilian involved in the affair, 48-year-old Sidqi al-Maqt, was likewise indicted on charges of espionage and contact with a foreign agent for allegedly handing photographs and information on IDF positions to Syrian intelligence.
Odeh’s reference to the “Syrian Golan” is a clear repudiation of Israel’s sovereignty over the region, which has been part of the State of Israel since the passage of the Golan Heights Law on December 14, 1981.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War.
The United States subsequently formally recognized the Golan Heights as a part of the State of Israel through a presidential proclamation signed by then-President Donald Trump on March 25, 2019.
Odeh recognizes none of it.
The Arab Joint List leader likewise brazenly embraced a convicted terrorist and Syrian spy who is committed to the destruction of the Jewish State.
Nevertheless, Odeh continues to draw a generous salary, with major benefits that include a pension, from Israeli taxpayer monies, and has yet to be censured for his actions.
