From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 5, 2024
Knesset vote on impeachment of far-left MK for supporting genocide charges set for Feb. 19
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
A vote on the impeachment of MK Ofer Cassif has been scheduled for February 19 in the Knesset, less than three weeks after the Knesset House Committee overwhelmingly supported a motion to expel the far-left lawmaker.
The effort to remove Cassif from the parliament came in response to his public support for South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which has been described as “treasonous” by his critics.
The only Jewish member of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, Cassif signed a petition backing Pretoria’s claims and accused Israeli leaders of advocating for crimes against humanity against the Palestinians.
In response, Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer set out to invoke a previously unused legal mechanism in the 2016 Suspension Law, under which legislators may drum out colleagues from their ranks if they are found to have committed one of a number of infractions, including expressing support “for an armed struggle” against Israel or inciting racism.
So far the lawmakers have gone through the first two steps of the process — submitting a letter signed by a minimum of 70 MKs and obtaining the support of at least three-quarters of the House Committee. Now the proceedings are slated to move to the plenum, where a supermajority vote of 90 legislators is needed to suspend Cassif.
Despite the widespread backlash against Cassif, both Deputy Attorney General Avital Sompolinsky and Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik have stated that the charges against him fall short of “crossing the criminal threshold” necessary for his removal.
