The Central Elections Committee decided on Wednesday to disqualify MK Ofer Cassif from running in the elections for the 26th Knesset.
Nineteen members of the committee voted in favor of the disqualification, five voted against, and two abstained.
The grounds for the decision were "support for an armed struggle by an enemy state or terrorist organization against the State of Israel."
In accordance with the Basic Law, the Central Elections Committee’s decision will be submitted to the Supreme Court for approval.
Cassif, a Jewish MK who runs with the Arab "Hadash" list, traditionally part of the Joint List, was disqualified by the Central Elections Committee in 2019, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision, allowing him to run for Knesset.
MK Cassif temporarily suspended from Knesset plenum | Israel National News
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MK Cassif temporarily suspended from Knesset plenum
Sole Jewish MK from Hadash-Ta'al sanctioned after verbal confrontation in which he called MK Almog Cohen a "stinking Nazi", among other things.
Ofer CassifYonatan Sindel/Flash 90
The Knesset Ethics Committee decided on Wednesday to temporarily suspend MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta'al) from the plenary following a verbal confrontation last month in which he called MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit), among other things, a "stinking Nazi", "zero", "stupid" and "bloodthirsty".
Cassif will be suspended from the plenary for three sessions and will not be able to use the parliamentary tools until the end of the winter session. The committee's decision also noted Cassif’s call for civil disobedience.
MK Nissim Vaturi (Likud), who took part in the same incident, received only a warning. In that confrontation, Vaturi called Cassif a "scoundrel" and a "despicable person". At another stage of the debate, Vaturi interrupted MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash-Ta'al), who was addressing the plenum in Arabic.
Cassif, the sole Jewish representative 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.
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.
In another incident, 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.