85 lawmakers sign petition to expel far-left MK who accused Israel of genocide
Motion to impeach Hadash-Ta’al’s Ofer Cassif to be heard by Knesset committee in coming weeks, before going to a plenum vote
Eight-five Knesset members have signed a document calling for impeachment proceedings against Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofer Cassif over his public support for a South African motion accusing Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer started a petition Monday to expel the far-left lawmaker from the Knesset, calling his public endorsement of Pretoria’s motion against Israel “treasonous.”
Lawmakers from both the coalition and the opposition have signed onto it, including several from war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s National Unity party and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid.
Cassif, the only Jewish member of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, signed a petition of support last week for South Africa’s case and has publicly accused Israeli leaders of advocating for crimes against humanity against the Palestinians.
According to Basic Law: The Knesset, 90 Knesset members, or 75 percent, may vote to expel a colleague who expressed support “for an armed struggle” against the State of Israel. Once 70 signatures are collected, the matter is referred to the Knesset House Committee and if approved there, goes to the plenum for a vote.
Should Cassif be found to have supported armed struggle against Israel, he will be the first MK to be impeached for doing so since the impeachment law was enacted in 2016.
The request to begin impeachment proceedings against Cassif was transferred to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Wednesday, who will now review it and forward it to the Chairman of Knesset House Committee, MK Ofir Katz, who must hold a hearing on the issue between 10-21 days after receiving the request.
Cassif can choose to be represented by a lawyer during the committee hearing, which will also be attended by representatives of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and by Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik, who will present her legal opinion on the matter.
At the end of the hearing, if 75% of committee members vote in favor of the proceedings against Cassif, the issue will move forward to a vote in the Knesset plenum, where again, 75% of MKs — or 90 lawmakers — must vote in favor of the motion for it to pass.
That number seemed achievable on Wednesday, as several right-wing MKs who for procedural reasons did not sign the petition, including Ohana, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, are liable to vote in favor.
In a post on X last week, Cassif wrote that his “constitutional duty is to Israeli society and all its residents, not to a government whose members and its coalition are calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide. They are the ones who harm the country and the people, they are the ones who led to South Africa’s petition to The Hague, not I and my friends.”
“When the government acts against society, the state and its citizens, especially when it sacrifices them and commits crimes in their name on the altar of maintaining its existence, it is my right and even my duty to warn about this and do everything I can within the law to stop it,” he asserted, adding that he would “not give up the fight for our existence as a moral society.
“This is true patriotism… not needless bloodshed, and not sacrificing kidnapped citizens and soldiers in senseless wars,” Cassif stated.
In response to Forer’s decision to begin collecting support for impeachment proceedings against Cassif, the Hadash-Ta’al party, headed by MK Ayman Odeh, released a statement calling it “the realization of the coup d’état and the elimination of democratic spaces.”
“While those who call for displacement and for the destruction of Gaza sit around the government table, MK Cassif, who calls for peace, is expelled from the Knesset on the unfounded charge of ‘supporting an armed struggle,'” the statement added.
“The goal of the right-wing government from the day it was founded was to eliminate the voices opposing it. Under the auspices of war, this has materialized.”
Even if 90 MKs vote in favor of impeaching Cassif, the issue can then be disputed in the High Court of Justice, where he is likely to argue that his decision to endorse the motion against Israel at the ICJ was not tantamount to supporting armed struggle against the State of Israel or a denial of Israel’s right to exist.
Cassif has long been a controversial figure in Israeli politics. In 2019, he was disqualified from running for Knesset by the Central Elections Committee over provocative comments, including calling then-justice minister Ayelet Shaked “neo-Nazi scum,” but the move was overturned by the High Court.
He has also previously been accused of comparing Israel and the IDF to the Nazi regime and of calling to fight against “Judeo-Nazis.”
Israel declared war on Hamas after thousands of terrorists led by the terror group burst across its southern border from Gaza on October 7, slaughtering some 1,200 people — mostly civilians who were massacred amid horrific acts of brutality — and taking 240 hostages of all ages.
Israel has rejected any assertion that it is targeting civilians or engaging in anything other than a campaign for its security. Israel says it is making an effort to avoid harm to civilians while fighting a terror group embedded within the civilian population.
Israel has long accused Gaza-based terror groups of using Palestinians in the Strip as human shields, operating from sites, including schools and hospitals, which are supposed to be protected.
In its application to the ICJ, South Africa accused Israel of actions that are “genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent… to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
Israel has accused South Africa of engaging in “blood libel” and selected retired Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, 87, to represent the country on the 15-judge panel.
South Africa will present its case at The Hague on Thursday, followed by Israel on Friday.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.