The Knesset Ethics Committee has decided to suspend MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta’al) for 45 days and revoke his salary for two weeks due to his statements against the State of Israel.
The committee, chaired by MK Yinon Azoulay, stated in its announcement that it "expresses deep disgust over [Cassif’s] statements, which come after two committee decisions in his case regarding the use of terms associated with the Holocaust."
Approximately 400 complaints from citizens and from MKs Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit) and Nissim Vaturi (Likud) were filed with the committee against Cassif due to his statements.
The committee discussed, among other things, comments Cassif made in an interview with an American media outlet in which he claimed that "Israel wanted this violence", in connection with the war in Gaza.
He also claimed that Israel is attacking Gaza to "implement a fascist plan" of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The committee also made a general decision concerning the duty of Knesset members to express themselves carefully at this time in view of the sensitive situation, and in particular to avoid statements that could harm the security of the state and the public during the fighting.
A statement from the committee said that it "announces that it will show zero tolerance for statements of this type."
MK Almog Cohen responded to the decision and said, "Too little, too late."
The chairman of the Otzma Yehudit Knesset faction, MK Yitzhak Kroizer, said, "I congratulate the Knesset Ethics Committee, which decided to rveoke the salary of Israel-basher Ofer Cassif and in addition to suspend him for 45 days from Knesset meetings. Those who support terrorism and support our enemy belong in the parliament is in Gaza."
Cassif, the sole Jewish representative of the predominantly Arab Hadash-Ta’al party, has been involved in several controversies in the past.
In August, it was reported that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was planning to file an indictment against Cassif over a May 2022 incident in which Cassif was involved in a physcal altercation with a police officer during a protest near Hebron. During the protest, Cassif was filmed hitting a police officer in the head.
Earlier this year, the Knesset Ethics Committee decided to temporarily suspend Cassif from the plenary following a verbal confrontation in which he called MK Almog Cohen, among other things, a "stinking Nazi", "zero", "stupid" and "bloodthirsty".
Cassif once shared a Facebook post calling Ayelet Shaked, who at the time was serving as Justice Minister, a “neo-Nazi scum”.
In 2017, he was recorded during a class comparing the State of Israel to Nazi Germany, warning that Israel was “on a slippery slope” to fascism.