Seventy lawmakers signed a motion to expel left-wing MK Ofer Cassif over his support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. Meanwhile, senior ministers’ statements are actively undermining Israel’s war effort.
Allison Kaplan Sommer Haaretz Today 10 Januarty 2024
Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif has been a lightning rod from the moment he stepped into the national political arena.
When he made his debut ahead of the 2019 election, Haaretz columnist Ravit Hecht described his approach as “fire and brimstone,” predicting that Cassif “is likely to draw fire from opponents and be a conspicuous figure.”
Her prediction proved to be an understatement.
At the time, he was already on record for calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “arch-murderer,” Minister Miri Regev “repulsive gutter contamination” and former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked “neo-Nazi scum.” He was initially prevented from running for the Knesset by the Central Elections Committee and only permitted to do so with the intervention of the High Court of Justice.
Nearly five years and three elections later, the acid-tongued senior Jewish lawmaker for the Arab-Jewish Hadash party has regularly faced attempts to oust him from Israel’s parliament for statements made while serving there. These include a description of Zionism as “a racist ideology and practice that espouses Jewish supremacy.”
Efforts to punish him for his views have intensified since the Gaza war broke out on October 7. About two weeks later, the Knesset Ethics Committee suspended him for 45 days and revoked his salary for 14 days, for expressing “a connection between the content world of the Holocaust and current government policy in times of war.” This after 400 complaints were filed against him for calling a proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich the “final solution” to the Palestinian problem.
This week, 70 Knesset members from both right-wing and centrist parties have signed a motion to expel Cassif from their ranks over his support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. He signed a petition on Monday supporting South Africa’s suit in the world court ahead of a hearing on the matter in the United Nations’ top court starting Thursday.
Time will tell if enough votes will be mustered in the Knesset House Committee and in the full Knesset to see Cassif expelled –and, if it happens, whether it will withstand a review of the High Court.
Cassif’s words and behavior are undeniably inflammatory, and his signing of the petition is offensive to many at such a sensitive moment. But it also feels an odd time to be discussing removing government officials for extreme and offensive views. Cassif, after all, is merely a member of an opposition party. His words and petition-signing may trigger distress, but have no real impact.
At exactly the same time, senior government figures like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Smotrich are making statements that aren’t just offensive. They are actively undermining Israel’s war effort, alienating Israel’s most important ally and supporter in the battle against Hamas: the United States.
As Cassif has pointed out, ministers who “have explicitly called for population transfer, the destruction of Gaza by fire or atomic bomb, the starvation of its people, and to infect them with disease, are sitting at the cabinet table.”
Presumably, the purpose of a parliament with a wide spectrum of parties is to make sure all voices and points of view are represented, as in other democracies that guarantee free speech – including those of the extreme left and right. If that’s the case, then Cassif deserves to keep his job.
If it isn’t and Cassif is shown the door, then the extremist right-wing leaders who keep the Netanyahu government in power should be forced to get in line right behind him.
Read more about Israel’s war against Hamas:
■ Gaza genocide case against Israel: Key legal questions facing the ICJ
■ Unlike South Africa’s ANC, Hamas is not waging a just war for liberation
■ Israelis can’t understand how they could be accused of genocide
■ Israelis can’t understand how they could be accused of genocide
■ On northern border, Israel fails to translate tactical victories into strategic gains
■ ‘Worst crisis ever’: Jewish-Muslim partnerships in U.S. become another victim of Gaza war
■ Concern about Palestinian and Israeli human rights isn’t a ‘blood libel’
■ ‘The misconception was that the Palestinians aren’t a people’