MK Ofer Cassif, the sole Jewish member of the Joint List party and an extreme-leftist, has claimed that Jews do not have the right to pray at the Western Wall.
Speaking on Radio 103FM on Wednesday, Cassif said that while he wishes for all citizens to be able to live in peace and security, the "occupation" is the source of all the current troubles.
"The true owners of the Western Wall are the Palestinians," Cassif said. "It is occupied territory, and [the Palestinians] are living under occupation. Naturally I do not wish for people to walk around in fear, but the basis for this fear is the occupation itself. The true violence is the occupation.
"From my perspective, the Western Wall is occupied territory, period," he added. "Whatever laws they made up regarding the Wall are not legitimate. As long as the situation is one of occupation, from my point of view, it's not legitimate for Jews to pray at the Wall.
"I am not referring to the issue as one of religion," he clarified. "I am relating to the political-nationalist aspect of the question, which is one of the oppression of the Palestinian people."
According to Cassif, the Western Wall is in a different category from Tel Aviv. "Tel Aviv is not under an occupying regime," he claimed. "The question is, how can we reach a just compromise? How can we create a situation in which two peoples can live here in harmony - both us and the Palestinians."