Archiv: Members of Knesset (MKs)
‘Assistance to Enemy in War’ – Israeli MK Requests Death Penalty for B’Tselem’s Director
The Israeli Likud Party Knesset Member Revital Gotliv requested the death sentence or life imprisonment for Yuli Novak, the executive director of the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, for what she labeled as “the suspected serious crime of assistance to the enemy in war,” the Anadolu news agency reported.
Gotliv reportedly made her request in a letter addressed to the Israeli Chief Police Commissioner Daniel Levy, in which she demanded the detention and interrogation of Novak.
The move followed a speech delivered by Novak on September 4 at the United Nations Security Council.
CPI and Hadash Calls to Cease Deadly Military Operation in the Occupied West Bank
The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and Hadash issued a common communique who said “The occupation’s attacks in the West Bank is a continuation of the campaign of destruction in Gaza.” They called for occupation forces to cease military operations in the West Bank.
According to Hadash MK Ofer Cassif, “The assault by the occupation forces on the West Bank has nothing to do with the security of Israel. It is just another layer in the total war that the Israeli government has been waging against the entire Palestinian people to annex their land and expel them from their homeland. Stop the war! End the occupation!”
MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) called it the “Gazafication of all Palestinian land” and part of a plan to “ethnically cleanse the West Bank.
Amid Police Provocation, Thousands Gathered in Nazareth to Celebrate May Day
MK Cassif said to journalists, “In spite of the fascist menace and terrorization, we marched today, thousands of Jews and Arabs together, to protest against the criminal massacre in Gaza, the occupation and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, against social injustice, class exploitation and fascism, and for the release of the hostages on the basis of ‘all-for-all’ principle, for social and national equality, democracy, and just peace.”
Hadash-Ta’al MKs Meet Jordan’s King, Calls for Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza
(05.03.2024)
Three Hadash-Ta’al lawmakers met Monday, March 4, with Jordan’s King Abdullah amid concerns that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could amplify tensions in occupied East Jerusalem stemming from the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip. MK Ayman Odeh, the head of the parliamentary Hadash-Ta’al alliance, MKs Ahmad Tibi and Youssef Atawneh traveled to Amman and asked the Jordanian monarch to pressure Israel to ensure freedom of worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Racist Ben Gvir Warns Hadash Leader ‘Next in Line’ to Be Expelled from Knesset
Racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appears to threaten Hadash MK Ayman Odeh with impeachment, tweeting out a picture of him with the message “next in line.” The photo shared by Ben Gvir shows Odeh holding the arm of Khalida Jarrar, a legislator and senior figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as she flashes a victory sign following her release from prison in September 2021. On last December 27, Jarrar was arrested again by occupation forces.
The far-right leader’s message comes hours after members of the Knesset House Committee overwhelmingly supported a motion to expel Hadash-Ta’al party lawmaker Ofer Cassif, voting 14-2 to advance his impeachment to the Knesset plenum following two days of contentious debate. During Tuesday’s debate on Cassif’s impeachment, Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi warned the Communist lawmaker’s ouster would “set a precedent” allowing for the impeachment of “all the Arab MKs in the Knesset.” “This is a black day for the Knesset,” Tibi declares following the vote.
Adalah: Motion to Expel Israeli Knesset Member for Supporting South Africa’s ICJ Case Is Unlawful
30/01/2024
Today, the Knesset’s House Committee voted to expel Hadash MK Ofer Cassif, based on his public support for South Africa‘s application to the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide. Adalah: The motion is a deliberate attempt to suppress political dissent against Israel‘s brutal military campaign on Gaza
“‘You can’t say that Cassif only wanted to stop the war, he’s accusing Israel of genocide,’ screams Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer ….” ? Ruckus at Knesset panel as deputy AG says expelling far-left MK lacks legal basis
European MPs Call for EU to Oppose Removal of Hadash MK Ofer Cassif
On Monday morning, the Knesset House Committee is slated to hear arguments in an unusual debate that will determine the political future of Communist lawmaker Ofer Cassif, from the Hadash-Ta’al parliamentary faction.
If the hearing goes badly for Cassif, he could soon face an unprecedented vote in the Knesset plenum to expel him from the legislative body, the result of his far-right MKs anger over his public support for a South African petition to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Four years ago, lawmakers attempted to gather the required signatures to bring similar charges against Hadash leader MK Ayman Odeh, but the effort never made it to the committee stage.
‘Why I support ICJ Gaza genocide case against my country, Israel’
(11.01.2024)
Israeli politician Ofer Cassif announced his support for the Gaza genocide lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ, and is now facing an attempt to get him kicked out of parliament. He explains why he did it.
Knesset debates booting lawmaker who supported ICJ genocide case
Forer announced the move after Cassif signed a petition in support of the South African case against the Jewish state and claimed that members of the government were calling for ethnic cleansing and even genocide.
Eighty-seven MKs subsequently signed on to the initiative, passing the minimum threshold required for lawmakers to remove a colleague who expresses “support for an armed struggle by an enemy state, or a terrorist organization against the State of Israel.”
Hadash MK Cassif: ‘They Want to Silence Us’
MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) is being threatened with expulsion from Israel’s parliament after he signed a petition supporting South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of acts of genocide. Cassif says the impeachment is based on an antidemocratic law that suppresses free speech. “They want me and my friends to shut up,” he says of the far-right government’s persecution of dissenting legislators in an interview to Amy Goodman broadcasted by Democracy Now! “We’ve been against the war from the beginning because we are against bloodshed.”
Israeli politician who lost friends in Hamas attack calls for an end to the Gaza bombings
„I have to condemn totally, with no reservation, of course, the terrible slaughter that Hamas carried out against innocent civilians in the south of Israel. There was no justification for such a massacre,“ Cassif, a Jewish member of the Arab-Jewish opposition coalition Hadash-Ta‘al, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
„Having been saying that, there‘s no justification for the carnage that Israel carries out at the moment. Because those who are harmed, assaulted and killed [are] mostly innocent civilians.“
Israelis and Palestinians Should Live in Security and Peace, MK Cassif
“I have to condemn totally, with no reservation the terrible slaughter that Hamas carried out against innocent civilians in the south of Israel. There was no justification for such a massacre,” MK Ofer Cassif, (Hadash) told “As It Happens” host Nil Köksal broadcasted by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). “Having been saying that, there’s no justification for the carnage that Israel carries out at the moment. Because those who are harmed, assaulted and killed [are] mostly innocent civilians.” The following is an excerpt from his conversation with Köksal.
I Will Not Be Silent, MK Ofer Cassif
Last week, I was accused from the platform of Maariv, in the article “Let You Explain” written by Lilac Sigan, that I and my friends in my political path are responsible for the backing the abominable Hamas organization and its strengthening.
Strange, I thought, it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said, in his words, that “those who want to thwart a Palestinian state should support the strengthening of Hamas”, and it was Minister Bezalel Smotrich who referred to Hamas as a “political asset”.
For years, the right-wing governments avoided overthrowing the Hamas regime and even transferred funds to it in order to facilitate a favorable political situation for the deepening of the occupation in the West Bank, when the Israeli surrounding localities of Gaza were sacrificed on the altar of the settlements.
What It Takes to Choose Life Over Revenge
(Oct. 19, 2023)
In his declaration of war on Gaza on Oct. 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel quoted a line from a poem by the Jewish writer Chaim Nachman Bialik. “Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan,” Mr. Netanyahu posted on social media.
Perhaps the prime minister forgot what Bialik wrote just one line before that: “And cursed be he who cries out: Revenge.” Or the next lines: “Let the blood fill the abyss!/let it pierce the blackest depths.”
These days I find myself asking what the poet meant by this. Bialik wrote it after learning of the horrors of the 1903 Kishinev pogrom.
בין ילדים אכן יש סימטריה. ילד הוא ילד בעוטף ובעזה! היום יותר מכל פעם אחרת אנו מתעקשים שיש ותמיד היתה דרך אחרת – פתרון פוליטי מדיני שיסיים את הכיבוש ויבטיח חיים וביטחון לכולם!
(17.10.2023)
My former boss MK @AidaTuma said in Knesset that no child, neither Jew nor Palestinian, is guilty and that no child should be a victim of this blood cycle. MK Merav Ben-Ari, a member of Lapid’a party, responded: “The children in Gaza brought it upon themselves.“
(16.10.2023)
Human Rights Organizations, MK Cassif Raise a Clear Voice Against the Harming of Civilians
Among the signatories to the declaration: Mothers Against Violence, Itach Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice, Academy for Equality, Amnesty International Israel, BIMKOM – Planners for Planning Rights, B’Tselem, Gisha, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Parents Against Child Detention, Hamoked – Center for the Defence of the Individual, Zazim – Community Action, Haqel – In Defense of Human Rights, Yesh Din, Yesh Gvul, Combatants for Peace, Mehazkim, Machsom Watch, Women Wage Peace , Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research, Standing Together, Ir Amim, Emek Shaveh, The Parents Circle-Families Forum, Rabbis for Human Rights, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, Breaking the Silence and Torat Tzedek.
IDF, Shin Bet work for Palestinian terrorists, MK from Netanyahu‘s Likud says
Gotliv, speaking about a dispute between the Prime Minister’s Office and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir regarding visits allowed for Palestinian security prisoners, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “it’s good to know the IDF and Shin Bet work for terrorists and security prisoners.
“The entire deep state is against Ben-Gvir,” she alleged. “Bravo, Ben-Gvir, on displaying right-wing authority,” the MK wrote after it was reported by media that Ben-Gvir had blocked visits for prisoners, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu releasing a statement denying that was so.
Halutz slams opposition MKs amid talk of unity government with Netanyahu
Halutz then slams President Isaac Herzog for contributing “to the creation of the illusion that there is a possibility of resolving this crisis.”
“We are at the core of an unprecedented crisis of distrust between the majority of Israeli citizens and the leadership that governs us. Benjamin Netanyahu is not the solution, he is the problem,” Halutz adds.
Knesset Okays ‘Sexual Terrorism’ Racist Law
(03.08.2023)
Sponsored by a group of lawmakers led by MK Limor Son Har Melech, from the racist coalition faction Otzma Yehudit, and MK Yulia Malinovsky from right-wing opposition party Yisrael Beytenu, the new law marked a rare case of cross-Knesset alignment and passed 39 to 7 on its final reading.
Sharp criticism of the law quickly came in from Hadash-Ta’al lawmakers and Israel’s rape crisis center umbrella organization, with both alleging the law improperly creates a ranking of the severity of such crimes. Hadash-Ta’al MK Aida Touma-Sliman, a former head of the Knesset’s Women’s Status Committee, told the Knesset: “Do not punish according to hierarchies and classifications.” “Shame on these laws,” she continued, tweeting after the law passed, “Don’t promote racism on the backs of victims!”
Netanyahu Gov’t to Vote on Key Part of Judicial Coup as Protesters Threaten Nationwide Rallies
The full Knesset will begin voting Monday afternoon on the amendment to the Basic Law on the Judiciary. The session will begin at 4 P.M. with debate, followed by a vote on a motion of no-confidence in the government submitted by the opposition. Lawmakers will then take up the reasonableness bill.
The bill to be voted on follows the wording it contained before lawmakers held deliberations on it. During the five meetings of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on the bill, not a single change was introduced.
MKs to vote on bill barring judges from reviewing ‘reasonableness’ of gov’t decisions
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his justice minister and the head of the Knesset committee sponsoring the bill to “soften” the language so as not to shield local city halls from petitions for judicial review, the bill’s language has not so far been changed.
MK Simcha Rothman, who heads the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, said that the current bill will not apply to mayors, but declined to remove the “other elected officials” clause, smoothing the way to easily expand the bill’s scope.
Hadash Lawmaker Brutally Cut Off After Jenin Comments in Knesset
During the deliberations, a storm erupted in the Knesset plenum when MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) stated in regard to the occupation forces operation in Jenin: “Every action has a reaction. There’s a reaction to the occupation, and that’s the resistance. Long live the Jenin Refugee Camp! Boo to you!” Odeh accused the far-right coalition MKs, saying: “Everyone’s blood for your accursed occupation, you are behaving not only as criminals but also as fools. Everyone is proud of Jenin and rightly so, and now more people will join the fighters against this accursed occupation. Every action has a response because it is the law of nature, the occupation has a response and this is the resistance, the resistance to the occupation is legitimate, long live the Jenin refugee camp, long live the Palestinian struggle.”
Odeh was immediately kicked off the podium after his support for Palestinians in Jenin and said, “Take me down, but the Palestinian people will continue to struggle.”
Four MKs apply to vacant Judicial Selection Committee spot as repeat vote nears
The nine-member Judicial Selection Committee includes three High Court justices, one of whom is the chief justice; two ministers, one of whom is the justice minister; two Knesset members; and two representatives of the Israel Bar Association (IBA). One each of the judges, ministers, MKs and IBA representatives must be a woman.
The committee is responsible for appointing judges at all levels of Israel‘s civil court system.
Late night session at the Knesset. MK Ofer Cassif is removed from the podium for calling the new government „fascist“ and for calling for „civil rebellion“
(07.02.2023)
Communist MK Urges the People to Rise Up against the Far-Right Govt’
(08.02.2023)
A Communist lawmaker on Tuesday urge at the Knesset podium citizens of the nation to civil unrest against the “dictatorship” of the new Netanyahu government. MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash) was quickly removed by Knesset ushers. “In light of the current emergency situation, I call for civil unrest…” Cassif said before being interrupted by Deputy Speaker Nissim Vattori (Likud), who called on Knesset ushers to forcibly remove Cassif from the plenum.
The Hadash lawmakers present at the time then erupted in a shouting match, with Cassif and fellow opposition MKs labeling the coalition members as “fascists.”