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‘SHAMEFUL’: PANEL VOTES TO EXPEL ISRAELI LAWMAKER OFER CASSIF FOR
BACKING GENOCIDE CASE  
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Jessica Corbett
January 31, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ One Israeli civil rights group called the move an "act of
McCarthyism and gagging, which severely harms freedom of expression,
the right to vote, and be elected." _

Israeli politician Ofer Cassif, centre, holds a Palestinian flag ,
[Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]

 

Members of an Israeli Knesset committee on Tuesday took a key step
toward expelling
[[link removed]] Hadash-Ta'al
MK Ofer Cassif over his support for the South African-led
International Court of Justice case accusing Israel of genocide in the
Gaza Strip.

After two days of debate that, according to
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Times of Israel_, "repeatedly descended into screaming matches between
legislators," the Knesset House Committee
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14-2 to advance Cassif's impeachment to the full parliament.

"The nearly unanimous decision was immediately condemned by
Hadash-Ta'al Chairman Ahmad Tibi, who called it 'a black day for the
Knesset,' and by the Labor party, which dismissed the entire process
as 'anti-democratic by nature,'" the newspaper noted.

Tibi and Ra'am MK Walid Taha were the two Israeli Arab legislators on
the panel who voted against advancing Cassif's impeachment while,
as _The Jerusalem Post_reported
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Merav Ben-Ari left the committee and did not vote."

"Let there be no doubt anymore that Israel's political class is not
even pretending to respect the democratic rights of Israeli Jews who
oppose apartheid."

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said
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debate "was conducted like a political circus, whose outcome was
determined by populist political considerations," and called the
committee vote "a shameful act of McCarthyism and gagging, which
severely harms freedom of expression, the right to vote, and be
elected."

"We cannot accept the argument that opposing the fighting in Gaza and
demanding an end to violations of international law is tantamount to
supporting Hamas' massacres against Israel," ACRI continued. "This is
a dangerous position that will lead to a fatal blow to the freedom of
expression of elected officials and citizens, and is a slippery
slope."

The development also garnered fierce condemnation beyond Israel, with
the Peace & Justice Project, founded by British Member of Parliament
Jeremy Corbyn, asserting
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social media that "this deplorable move by Israel’s political
establishment seeks to silence Israeli Jews calling for an end to the
destruction of Gaza."

Former Greek politician and economist Yanis Varoufakis
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there be no doubt anymore that Israel's political class is not even
pretending to respect the democratic rights of Israeli Jews who oppose
apartheid."

Cassif, the sole Jewish member of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta'al, had
signed a petition backing the case before the ICJ, which ruled
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week that it is plausible Israel's actions in the besieged Palestinian
enclave could amount to genocide.

Specifically, the petition said: "Israel is indeed taking
methodological and fundamental steps to erase, starve, abuse, and
expel the population of Gaza. It actualizes a policy of erasing
possibilities of living, which leads to genocide. It methodologically
kills broad swaths of population, leading academics, authors, doctors,
medical teams, journalists, and simple citizens."

Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer called signing the petition "treasonous"
and is leading the effort to expel Cassif, claiming that he "supported
armed struggle, by an enemy state or terrorist organization, against
the state of Israel."

Forer is relying on a never-before-used
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mechanism in the 2016 Suspension Law. Launching the impeachment
proceedings required signatures from 70 of the Knesset's 120 members,
including at least 10 from the opposition. Ultimately, 85 signed on,
well over the initial threshold but still under the 90 legislators
needed to suspend Cassif.

Now that the House Committee has weighed in, a final vote will be
held—though is not yet scheduled. If Cassif is expelled, he can
appeal the decision to Israel's Supreme Court, and positions from key
Israeli legal experts suggest he would have a strong case.

During the Knesset panel hearing, Cassif and his lawyer, Michael
Sfard, argued that opposing the war does not mean he supports Hamas,
which governs Gaza and led the October 7 attack that led to Israel's
blockade and bombardment of the enclave.

According to the _Post_:

Sfard explained that the law requires that impeachment can only be
held regarding actions committed during the current Knesset—as
voters were aware of Cassif's actions prior to the election and still
voted for him. Any proof that included prior actions were therefore
irrelevant, he added.

Both Deputy Attorney General Avital Sompolinski and Knesset Legal
Adviser Sagit Afek, the legal experts required by law to give their
opinion, accepted Sfard's argument that Cassif's signing the petition
did not meet the standard of "support of armed struggle" and,
therefore, did not qualify as a reason for impeachment.

"While those who call for the destruction of Gaza by fire or atomic
bomb sit around the Cabinet table, I face impeachment on the baseless
charge of 'supporting an armed struggle,'" said Cassif, calling out
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remarks from others in the Israeli government.

_Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common
Dreams._

* Israeli Knesset
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* Ofer Cassif
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* political struggle
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* Genocide
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* ICJ
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