Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif suspended from Knesset for criticising Gaza genocide

A renowned socialist member of the Israeli Knesset has been suspended from parliament for six months after denouncing his country's brutal war on Gaza, where almost 44,000 Palestinians have been killed and the enclave utterly devastated.

Ofer Cassif, a Jewish member of the Hadash-Ta'al party, is no longer allowed into the Knesset for debates and committee meetings, and can only enter parliament to vote.

His pay will also be withheld for two weeks, following a unanimous vote in the Ethics Committee on Monday to suspend him.

The Times of Israel said the Ethics Committee had reached the decision after he also described Palestinians in Jenin fighting against the Israeli military as "freedom fighters" in a social media post.

"My suspension is just another layer in a long series of attacks on free speech in Israel, there is a political persecution against anyone, especially Arabs but not only them, it is against anyone who holds an alternative voice of the ongoing genocidal massacre in Gaza," Cassif told The New Arab on Monday.

"My struggle will always be for peace, justice, equality and liberty which made me want to denounce Israel’s massacre in Gaza, in the same way I have been denouncing occupation for decades…it is my duty to stand by victims anywhere and everywhere – it doesn’t matter who they are" he added.

The Ethics Committee argued that while free speech should be protected, there must be a distinction between what it legitimate criticism of Israel and "encouraging bloodshed against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel, while undermining the state's ability to deal" with legal challenges abroad.

"Netanyahu is a psychopath, fascist and dictator. He wants to eliminate any criticism of him especially, but also of the government around him. He is surrounded by bigots, fascists and racists like Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and many others," Cassif told The New Arab in response. 

"Netanyahu is interested only in his own good. What we have been witnessing in the last two years, is Netanyahu and his thugs silencing any criticism or alternative voices" he continued.

Cassif doubled down on his comments on Gaza publicly this week, backing the widely-held view that the Israeli assault on the enclave amounts to a genocide.

"My political statements against the occupation, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocide committed by the Israeli government in Gaza - witnessed by the entire world - are well-founded statements protected under the freedom of political expression," he said in a statement. 

"My punishment is a continuation of the political persecution of opponents of the war and critics of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bloody rule."

He added that he is proud to be a "partner of the good people who are persecuted by this evil government".

According to Israeli media, Cassif also publicly backed a South African motion accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

In February this year, MK Oded Forer attempted to impeach Cassif for supporting the South African case accusing Israel of genocide, however, his case failed when only 85 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion.

After the Ethics Committee announced that Cassif would be suspended, the Hadash party issued a statement saying: "Netanyahu regime seeks to eliminate the Knesset by outlawing the opposition factions. Removing members of the Knesset who oppose war crimes is another drastic step in the war there."

Cassif was born near Tel Aviv in 1964 and was a member of the Knesset for around five years. He is a former student at the London School of Economics and was an academic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He previously described himself as a communist and spent time in jail for refusing to serve as a soldier in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In 2022, Cassif accused Israeli police of beating him after taking part in a protest against an illegal Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. He also joined Palestinian-led demonstrations in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Jerusalem, denouncing the forced expulsion of Palestinian residents living there.

He says he believes in a two-state solution and is opposed to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.