Ofer Cassif
Ofer CassifKnesset Spokesman/Isaac Harari

MK Ofer Cassif (Joint List) on Saturday criticized the IDF in light of its activities in the face of the weekly violent demonstrations along the Gaza border fence.

"The Israeli army deliberately kills Gazans! According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 26 were wounded by live bullets yesterday near the Gaza fence. The children of Gaza are seeking a future, seeking freedom, seeking a fair chance,” he wrote on Twitter.

“In return, they receive siege, famine, poverty and live fire. Some will be disabled for their entire lives, thanks to the Israeli government and the occupation army who are committing war crimes,” added Cassif, who attached a photo of a group of Gazan children with missing limbs who, he claimed, were injured during the protests near the fence.

The “March of the Return” protests, orchestrated by Hamas, have been going on every Friday since March of 2018 and took place again this past Friday, when approximately 4,500 Palestinian Arabs demonstrated in several locations near the Gaza border fence.

During the violent protests, the rioters throw explosives and firebombs at the border fence and toward soldiers who are stationed in the area.

When the weekly protests began, Hamas openly admitted that most of the rioters who were killed in those violent riots were members of the group.

Cassif, a Hebrew University professor who replaced Dov Khenin as the sole Jewish representative in the Hadash party which is part 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.

Just last month, Cassif criticized Israeli forces for eliminating a female terrorist who tried to carry out a stabbing attack against security forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint, claiming the terrorist “was murdered” and added that she “walked into the checkpoint and was executed by one of the murderous squads of the occupation.”

Before the April election, the Central Elections Committee decided to disqualify Cassif from running, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision.