Israeli Arab Lawmaker Suspected As Spy

Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara makes a mobile phone call after meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa at the Arab League headquarters in downtown Cairo, Egypt in this April 22, 2007 file photo. Bishara is suspected of treason and espionage for aiding Hezbollah guerrillas during last summer's war in Lebanon, police disclosed Wednesday, May 2, 2007, saying the crimes could be punishable by death.(AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File) (Ben Curtis - AP)

"Azmi Bishara was seen by the enemy as a reliable figure in helping them understand the Israeli reality and advance the interest of the enemy," Shai said.

The allegations include assisting the enemy in wartime, contact with a foreign agent and money laundering, Shai said.

According to Shai, Bishara received envelopes with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash through a family-run money-changing business in east Jerusalem, and three members of the family were arrested and confessed. The money came from Jordan, but it was not clear where it originated, he said. Police did not offer evidence of a link between Bishara's alleged ties to Hezbollah and the money he received.

Bishara told the AP that he was not privy to any sensitive information. He said he spoke to "friends" during the war, sharing only information reported in the Israeli media.

"What is said in the media and then repeated on the phone in conversation with friends constitutes to passing information (to the enemy) now?" he said.

He called the financial allegations a "lie."

Under Israeli law, the crime of treason is punishable by life imprisonment or even death. But Israel has carried out its death penalty only once, in the case of the Nazi Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

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AP correspondent Barbara Surk in Dubai contributed to this article.