Far-left MK Ofer Cassif indicted for aggravated assault on police officer in 2022
Hadash party legislator says indictment is ‘political persecution,’ points to failure to indict officers who beat him in 2021 as evidence of illegitimate police behavior
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced on Wednesday that far-left MK Ofer Cassif was indicted on charges of aggravated assault against a police officer resulting from an altercation involving the MK in the West Bank, in May 2022.
A copy of the indictment, which was filed on Monday, was passed to the Knesset speaker and to the chairman of the Knesset House Committee so that Cassif can request immunity from prosecution from the Knesset if he so wishes.
Aggravated assault against a police officer is punishable by a sentence of up to five years in prison, and not less than three-month prison term.
Cassif, a Jewish member of the predominantly Arab party Hadash, described the indictment as “political persecution” and said he would fight the charges in court.
The incident in question occurred in May 2022, when Cassif was trying to reach a demonstration against the evacuation of Palestinians from their homes in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank.
The areas of the villages being evacuated were declared a closed military zone by the IDF to stop protesters from reaching them, although they were allowed to walk to an area away from the evacuation zone and demonstrate there.
According to the indictment, Cassif, who had arrived at the scene, sought to drive his car to the protest area, but was prevented from doing so by Border Police personnel, who nevertheless told him he could go there on foot.
Cassif insisted his parliamentary immunity allowed him to drive to the protest, but the Border Police officer refused to allow him to do so. A shouting match developed between the MK, the Border Police officer, and another police officer, in which they exchanged insults and threats.
Cassif at this stage got back into his car and tried to continue along the route toward the protest despite being blocked by the police officer, and hit the officer in the left leg as he was trying to drive slowly around him, according to the indictment.
The MK stopped, and after a verbal exchange between the two, the police officer poked Cassif in the face with his finger, lightly according to the indictment, and Cassif then “strongly” slapped the police officer on the side of the head, the indictment said.
Cassif was indicted on one charge of aggravated assault against a police officer “with intent to prevent him from [fulfilling] his duty.”
The MK denounced the decision to indict him, and said that the police’s behavior at the time was part of a phenomenon of “police violence,” which was witnessed more recently as well.
“Political persecution and police violence have been exposed for all to see, especially in recent times, in attacks on peaceful demonstrators and the arbitrary and illegal ban on anti-war protests,” said Cassif.
“This is also what is at the basis of the indictment against me — political persecution, police violence, and lies, while violating my [parliamentary] immunity while I was fulfilling my duties as an MK.
“The threats and violence suffered by peace activists, the coordination of witnesses and the destruction of evidence by the police are part of a system that exists today, which also existed then, and also as happened in the demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah where I was severely [and] violently attacked by police and the case was closed.”
Cassif took part in a demonstration in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in 2021, during which he was beaten by police officers, leaving him in need of medical attention. The incident, in which his glasses were broken, was caught on video. Despite the footage, the case against the police officers involved was closed by the Department of Internal Police Investigations DIPI, due to “insufficient evidence.”
Separately, there is currently a motion in the Knesset signed by 85 MKs calling for impeachment proceedings against Cassif over his public support for the South African application to the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
