The Knesset Ethics Committee decided on Monday that MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta’al) will be expelled from the Knesset for a period of six months and will be denied two weeks' salary.
The punishment, which goes into effect on Tuesday, comes after Cassif joined the proceedings against Israel in The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and accused IDF soldiers and the State of Israel of massacring Palestinian Arabs and committing war crimes.
This is the heaviest punishment ever imposed on an MK in the history of the Knesset Ethics Committee. The members of the committee, MK Moshe Roth (United Torah Judaism), MK Pnina Tamano-Shata (National Unity), MK Michal Woldiger (The Religious Zionist Party) and MK Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beytenu), unanimously approved the decision.
The chairman of the committee, MK Roth, said that "the committee held a number of in-depth and lengthy discussions on the issue, out of responsibility and understanding the importance of the decision. The committee will continue to act faithfully in maintaining the honor of the Knesset and its members. The committee's decisions were adopted unanimously. The committee's discussions will remain confidential in accordance with accepted procedures. "
MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit) responded to the decision and said, "Too little and too late. It is inconceivable that those who call our soldiers ‘Nazis’ and ‘baby killers’ and claim that the State of Israel practices apartheid - will remain here. Every step this man takes in this building is a national shame and a disgrace to our holy soldiers. I call on the Ethics Committee to punish him much more severely."
Cassif said in response, "A decision of nationalist political censorship. My punishment is a continuation of the political persecution of opponents of the war and critics of Netanyahu's bloody rule.”
Cassif, who is the sole Jewish MK in Hadash-Ta’al, has repeatedly drawn criticism for his anti-Israel statements, including comparisons of Israeli leaders and even the State of Israel to the Nazi party and Nazi-era Germany.
In March of 2023, 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.
Earlier this year, the Knesset voted against impeaching Cassif. Impeachment of an MK requires a minimum of 90 votes, but only 85 MKs voted in favor of the motion, and 11 MKs opposed it.