PARIS, Jan 1: Marwan Bishara, a France-based writer and university professor, has called upon the French government to protect his brother, Israeli-Arab deputy Azmi Bishara, whom Israeli authorities have barred from election.

“Why has Azmi Bishara been receiving death threats and why is it that France should support my brother?,” asks Marwan Bishara. “Because he happens to stand very much for the same concept of Israel that is supported by the French: a country founded on universal democratic values, including the end of inequalities, between Arabs and Jews.”