Hadash MK Cassif convicted of assaulting police officer during 2022 West Bank clash

MK Ofer Cassif of the far-left Hadash party was convicted Thursday on a charge of aggravated assault against a police officer over an incident in May 2022 in which the lawmaker was blocked when trying to get to a demonstration against the evacuation of Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank.

Aggravated assault against a police officer is punishable by up to five years in prison, and a minimum three-month prison term.

Cassif was accused of hitting a Border Police officer’s leg with his car and of subsequently slapping him around the head after he got into a shouting match with the officer, when the MK was prevented from driving to the demonstration.

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court found that “it was proved beyond all reasonable doubt” that Cassif did hit the Border Police officer with his car “with the awareness and intention of thwarting him” from carrying out his duty.

The court also determined that Cassif’s slap to the police officer’s head, in response to a “light” poke in the face by the police officer, was not protected under self-defense laws, describing the assault as disproportionate to the “incidental contact caused by the movement of the defendant’s own body” with the police officer’s finger.

If the court determines that Cassif’s crime has moral turpitude and he does not appeal, he will lose his Knesset seat.

If he were to be imprisoned, even without a determination of moral turpitude, he would be automatically suspended from Knesset for the duration of his sentence.

Cassif, a Jewish member of the predominantly Arab party Hadash, called his conviction “yet another element of the ongoing, open political persecution of anyone who stands fearlessly against the occupation — and its crimes and perpetrators — while advocating for democracy, justice, and true peace for both peoples of this land.”

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 2027. An attorney for Cassif said he may appeal the conviction.

The charges were brought against Cassif in 2024.

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 court papers, Cassif sought to drive his car to the protest area, but was prevented from doing so by Border Police personnel, who told him he could proceed 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 ensued 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, prosecutors said.

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 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.