Zouheir Bahloul

Zouheir Bahloul (Arabic: زهير بهلول‎‎, Hebrew: זוהיר בהלול‎‎; born 24 December 1950) is an Israeli Arab sports broadcaster, journalist and politician.

Bahloul was born in 1950 in Haifa. As a child, his family moved to Acre, where his mother managed a Muslim orphanage. In 1974, he was hired as a researcher at the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Later, he became a sports announcer. He broadcast various athletic competitions for radio and television on Channel 1.

While mainly working in sports broadcasting, Bahloul has also worked as a journalist, focused on promoting the Arab sector in Israel. During the 1990s he presented current events programs and talk shows in Arabic.

Bahloul was married to Jamila until her death in 2010, and has three children.

Political career

In December 2014, Bahloul joined the Israeli Labor Party. On January 14, 2015, in the party primaries, he beat the MK and former minister Raleb Majadele for the minority slot and placed 17th in the Zionist Union list. As a parliamentarian, Bahloul says he will first focus on changing the national education system to foster more diversity and Jewish–Arab dialogue.

In a February 9, 2015, interview with Al-Monitor, Bahloul said he joined the Zionist Union, an alliance of Labor and Hatnuah, because he saw the Labor Party's potential to integrate "the Arab population in the state's affairs" and because Tzipi Livni, as justice minister, had "stood like a bulwark against" anti-democratic legislation. He called on Arab parties to adopt a different strategy and demonstrate willingness to join a Labor-led coalition after the 2015 elections.