MK Ofir Sofer (Yamina) on Monday evening wrote a letter of complaint against MK Ofer Cassif (Joint List). The letter was addressed to the chairwoman of the Knesset Ethics Committee, MK Tali Ploskov (Likud).
Sofer’s letter followed Cassif’s call for a civil uprising during a radio interview. "MK Ofer Cassif’s call is a call for rebellion within the meaning of the Penal Code, which carries a sentence of 5 years in prison," wrote Sofer.
"We are all witnessing great unrest on the part of Israeli citizens, many of whom have lost their source of income, some as a result of their dismissal from work and some as a result of the collapse of their business - most of them suffer from serious economic hardships, which caused outrage directed at the government and elected officials. It is clear that without responsible conduct by the elected officials - the State of Israel may deteriorate into a deep rift, the wounds of which will be very difficult to heal,” he added.
"On July 20, MK Ofer Cassif from the Joint List gave an interview to Nas Radio of the Arab sector and openly called for civil rebellion, and this is the content of his remarks: 'I call on the general public every day - This is the time for a non-violent civil uprising against a government that is going to bury us all under a murderous dictatorship, if we do not wake up now and go against it, it will be too late,’" Sofer noted.
"The call of MK Ofer Cassif is a call for rebellion within the meaning of the Penal Code, which is punishable by 5 years in prison. As such, I will seek to act for the convening of the Ethics Committee in the near future in order to impose on MK Cassif the penalties that the committee can impose on the Knesset members."
Cassif, a Hebrew University professor who replaced Dov Khenin as the sole Jewish representative in the Hadash faction of the Joint List, has repeatedly drawn criticism for his comparisons of Israeli leaders and even the State of Israel to the Nazi party and Nazi-era Germany.
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.
Last December, Cassif said that Israel should not be compared to an apartheid state because, he claimed, it is “worse than apartheid”.
Before the election in April of 2019, the Central Elections Committee decided to disqualify Cassif from running, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision.