Archiv: Members of Knesset (MKs)


28.05.2026 - 15:22 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

News 13 Poll: The Joint List Will Become the Third-Largest Faction with 16 MKs

The Joint List would become the third largest faction in the Knesset if elections were held today, according to the results of a poll broadcast last night (Monday, May 25) on Channel 13 News. According to the poll, the Joint List would win 16 seats, while Likud drops to 23 seats and “Beyachad” falls to 21 seats. In this scenario, Netanyahu’s extremist right-wing bloc drops to 53 seats, while the Zionist opposition bloc falls to 51 seats. To form an alternative government, the opposition parties would need the Joint List to secure a majority of 67 Knesset members.

21.05.2026 - 07:24 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

The Bill to Dissolve the Knesset Passed Its Preliminary Reading; MK Odeh: ‘The Evil Govt is Ending its Path’

Earlier, a similar bill to dissolve the Knesset, introduced by the Hadash faction, was debated but failed, with 52 opposition lawmakers voting in favor and 61 against. “The worst government ever, responsible for bloodshed on a horrific scale, is coming to an end,” MK Ayman Odeh stated in the Knesset plenum while presenting his faction’s bill. “We are at a historic crossroads,” he emphasized

21.04.2026 - 17:25 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Outrage After Israeli Soldier Smashing Jesus Statue in Lebanon

Commenting on social media, Hadash-Ta’al chair MK Ayman Odeh wrote pointedly: “We’ll wait to hear the police spokesperson claim that ‘the soldier felt threatened by Jesus’.”

10.04.2026 - 00:00 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

CPI and Hadash: The Ceasefire Is a Critical Step that Must Become a Permanent Peace

The Communist Party of Israel and the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) condemned on Wednesday evening, April 8, “the heinous and horrific massacre committed by the far-right Israeli government in Lebanon, only hours after the announcement of a temporary ceasefire in the war. This is a clear sign of the crisis facing war criminals, whose aggressive policies repeatedly fail to establish what they term the New World Order. Furthermore, Netanyahu and his government understand that ending the war signifies the collapse of their legitimacy and the end of their time in power.”

“We view the ceasefire in the war with Iran as a crucial development that must be maintained, defended, and turned into a standing agreement that guarantees peace and rights for the peoples of the region, while standing firm against any Israeli attempt to thwart it. We emphasize that this war has once again exposed the failure of the policies of aggression and the imperialist bullying of the US and Israel. It has proven that the logic of force, destruction, and occupation does not create security or stability, but rather drags the entire region into further ruin and bloodshed. We reaffirm that the only path to security, stability, and a better future for all peoples of the land and the region is not the path of war and aggression, but a political path based on ending the occupation—as it is the heart of the regional conflict—and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in all territories occupied by Israel in June 1967,” they said in the common communique.

09.04.2026 - 10:01 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

MK Odeh After Cease-Fire was Announced: ‘Netanyahu is a Liar and an International Pyromaniac’

On Wednesday morning, Hadash MK Ofer Cassif said, “Congratulations to the brilliant duo, Orange & Purple, on their impressive list of achievements (economic, strategic & political), culminating in finding the lost key to the Strait of Hormuz. We warned from the very beginning that this was nothing more than a futile and pointless war of deception that would only lead to bloodshed, widowhood, orphanhood, and devastation, without achieving anything. No to occupation, yes to peace.”

According to Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, “Israel should learn three main lessons from the war: To recognize the limitations of power. There is no stability in the region without Israeli-Palestinian peace and Netanyahu is a liar and an international pyromaniac,” he wrote.

01.04.2026 - 13:58 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Four Arrested in Protest at Knesset Against Death Penalty Law for Palestinians, Petitions to Supreme Court

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) filed a petition with the Supreme Court demanding the repeal of the “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law”, minutes after it passed its second and third readings in the Knesset. On Tuesday morning, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, Physicians for Human Rights and Gisha, together with Hadash-Ta’al MKs Aida Touma-Sliman, Ayman Odeh, and Ahmed Tibi, filed a second urgent petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, demanding that the “Death Penalty for Terrorists Law” be declared null and void. The petitioners argue that the law represents a complete negation of the right to life and imposes cruel and inhuman punishment.

01.04.2026 - 13:25 [ Middle East Eye / X ]

“All those who supported, let alone proposed this bill, should be tried by The Hague.” Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli Knesset, has condemned the death penalty bill approved on Monday for Palestinian detainees, labeling it a “genocide law”

(video)

21.03.2026 - 22:31 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Hadash MKs Visited Bani Odeh Children’s, Their Parents and Two Young Brothers Were Murdered by Occupation Soldiers

(March 19, 2026)

Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, Ofer Cassif and Aida Touma-Sliman visited on Tuesday evening, March 17, Khaled and Mustafa Bani Odeh whose parents and their two young children were murdered by occupation forces on last Saturday, demands justice and above all demands an end to the occupation “for as long as the occupation continues crimes like these are not rare, they are a part of our daily lives.”

The Palestinian man, his wife, and their two children were killed after midnight by Israeli occupation forces in the town of Tammun, south of Tubas, while their two other children were injured by shrapnel. WAFA reported that Israeli special forces infiltrated the town, followed by military reinforcements arriving from the Ein Shibli checkpoint and the Tayasir checkpoint.

Forces opened fire on a vehicle, killing Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, 37, his wife Waad Othman Bani Odeh, 35, and their two children, Mohammed, 5, and Othman, 7. Their other two children, Mustafa, 8, and Khaled, 11, sustained minor shrapnel injuries to the head and face. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces prevented its crews from reaching the injured inside the vehicle and forced them to leave the area before later allowing them to retrieve the four bodies — a man, a woman, and two children — along with the two injured children.

06.02.2026 - 20:31 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Hadash MK Ofer Cassif Meets Jeremy Corbyn

(November 15, 2025)

British MP Jeremy Corbyn (left) meets Hadash MK Ofer Cassif, Nov. 12, 2025 (Photo: Al Ittihad)

05.12.2025 - 05:16 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

MK Odeh Says Hadash Will Oppose Haredi Draft Bill

MK Ayman Odeh tells journalists that his Hadash front will not support the far-right government’s proposed bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment, stating that “there will be no scenario in which Hadash-Ta’al faction will support, be absent, abstain, or act in any way that could be interpreted as a lifeline for the government.” “We want to create complications for the government; we want to shorten its days. Anything that helps bring down the government — Hadash–Ta’al will support,” he added.

02.12.2025 - 22:25 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Hadash: No Pardon for Genocide War

According to Hadash MK Ayman Odeh: “It is expected of every person to understand that this move by Netanyahu is intended for one purpose: that you talk about it… and not talk about the execution in Jenin by Ben Gvir’s platoons, not about the targeted elimination of the two children on Sunday in Gaza, not about the regime coup, not about the budget that will harm each and every one of you, not about the political violence, not about the ethnic cleansing, not about the unbearable crime and murder in Arab society, and not about the economic and social situation that’s at an unprecedented low…that you talk about the ‘pardon’ that is imagined, but that you do not talk about the abandonment, the destruction, or about the simple fact that Netanyahu is a war criminal, and should stand trial in The Hague”.

16.11.2025 - 14:09 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Hadash MK Ofer Cassif Meets Jeremy Corbyn

British MP Jeremy Corbyn (left) meets Hadash MK Ofer Cassif, Nov. 12, 2025 (Photo: Al Ittihad)

09.11.2025 - 13:12 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

MK Odeh in Berlin: Germany – Recognize Palestine

According to Odeh, “Every hostage returned from Gaza is a victory. Every child and family who survived Gaza is a victory. But that is not the victory Netanyahu wants.” He said, “What has been achieved and at what price? Palestinian cities have been erased from the map. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza were killed, including 20,000 children. Hundreds of thousands were left without homes. This is not a victory. This is devastation,” and called on “those responsible for crimes against humanity” to be held accountable.

“The Israeli state was already like Sparta – now it has become a super Sparta. If this is victory, what does defeat look like?” Odeh wondered. Odeh also urged Germany to recognize a Palestinian state, saying that the only request he had of U.S. President Donald Trump when he came to address Israel’s Knesset in October was to recognize a Palestinian state. “So, I ask you too: Germany – recognize Palestine! Recognize that there are two people in our shared homeland, both with the right to self-determination,” he cried out, to great applause.

Regarding Germany, Odeh said that Berlin “carries the scars of the 20th century and stands as a living reminder of how far human cruelty can go when power is absolute. When racism is normalized and people are dehumanized. But a city like Berlin can be both a graveyard for history, resistance culture and rebirth,” he said. Odeh also said the history of Berlin teaches that “silence in the face of injustice is deadly. It was silence that made the greatest crime of the century possible. And yet, today we see silence return, dressed up in diplomatic language.”

20.10.2025 - 17:03 [ Times of Israel ]

Odeh urges opposition factions to work together to topple Netanyahu’s government ‘as soon as possible’

Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh calls on fellow opposition factions to join together to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “as soon as possible.”

Addressing reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Odeh says that the government has three aims during the current parliamentary session, “harming the West Bank…promoting the judicial coup…and preventing the Arab population from running in the next elections.”

20.10.2025 - 16:42 [ Jacobin ]

Knesset MP Ofer Cassif on the Need for Palestinian Liberation

(October 18, 2025)

Dora Mengüç After October 7, Israeli society went through a deep trauma. You’ve said the government weaponized that trauma.

Ofer Cassif Yes. The massacre committed by Hamas was horrific — we all condemned it. But the government used fear, pain, and rage to manipulate people and justify a genocidal war.

The attack on Gaza had nothing to do with the well-being of Israelis, not even revenge. It was about realizing a preexisting plan — the annexation of occupied Palestinian territories without granting basic rights, and the expulsion of Palestinians who resist.

(…)

The only solution is the two-state solution. Gaza should be liberated, the West Bank including East Jerusalem must be liberated. The Palestinian people must be liberated — which, in my view, is also the liberation of the Israeli people. Because, of course, Palestinians are the main victims of occupation and apartheid — but we Israelis are also hostages of the fanaticism that sustains this system.

13.10.2025 - 14:44 [ Hindustan Times ]

Who are Israel Parliament members Ayman Odeh, Ofer Cassif who showed ‘recognise Palestine’ sign to Trump?

Ayman Odeh, who is 50 and lists himself as an atheist (he was born in a Muslim family), leads the Arab-Jewish Hadash party that‘s part of the Joint List political group.

Hadash is considered a left-wing coalition formed by the Communist Party of Israel (Maki) and other like-minded groups.

Ofer Cassif, who is Jewish, is 60. He has represented Hadash in the Knesset since April 2019.

13.10.2025 - 14:41 [ i24NEWS English / Youtube ]

Hadash party leader Ayman Odeh and party member Ofer Cassif interrupt President Trump‘s speech

Left-wing Hadash party leader Ayman Odeh and party member Ofer Cassif interrupt President Trump‘s speech, yelling and holding a sign that says „Recognize a Palestinian state,“ and are forcefully removed from the Knesset by security.

12.10.2025 - 14:02 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Abbas Receives Israeli Peace Activists, Welcomes Ceasefire Agreement

At the end of the meeting, President Abbas renewed his welcome to the visiting delegation and emphasized the importance of meetings in building bridges of trust between the Palestinian and Israeli sides. He expressed hope that this meeting would mark the beginning of a new path, not only in politics, but also in the shared human conscience between the two sides. President Abbas called on the delegation members to form a popular Israeli front for a just peace that would make the voice of reason heard within Israeli society.

27.09.2025 - 23:49 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

MK Odeh to Submit Bill to Knesset to Recognize Palestinian State

“I welcome the decision of the UK, France, Australia, Canada and other countries to recognize a Palestinian state,” he wrote in X, adding that the Palestinian people are no better or worse than anyone else, but nevertheless deserve the right to self-determination. “On the first day of the winter session, I will place on the Knesset table a bill to recognize a Palestinian state. Because there are two people here, and the State of Israel must also recognize this simple fact.”

Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman told The Jerusalem Post that the recognition of a Palestinian state by “Western powers is an important step, but it is not enough, too little too late.” Touma-Sliman said that Palestinian state recognition “must be the beginning of a serious pressure campaign on Israel and its backers in the White House, including economic measures and arms embargoes.” “The world knows that the destruction of Gaza must end, and a Palestinian state must be established alongside Israel. It is time for action,” she said.

30.08.2025 - 18:36 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

U.S. Bans Visas for PA Ahead of UN General Assembly; ‘Trump Is an Enemy of Palestine’

According to Hadash MK Ayman Odeh, “In the end, only Israel and the US, perhaps along with Micronesia, will stand alone on the international stage, trying to defy the will of the majority of the world’s nations. Trump’s decision to prevent the Palestinians from participating in the UN General Assembly is yet another direct attack on the international order. But it doesn’t really change anything: the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination, just like any other people in the world. The whole world knows this and supports this fundamental right, and everyone who believes in justice and peace stands with the Palestinian people, now, more than ever.”

“Trump’s decision to ban Palestinians from the UN summit in New York is a full and direct attack on the UN and the international order. The US is an enemy of the Palestinian cause and is fully supportive of the genocidal settler Israeli government. The rest of the world, the UN, and all peace-loving peoples must resist this attack and stand by the Palestinian people. If it be – the UN conference should be held in Europe”, Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman agreed,

29.08.2025 - 19:30 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

MK Cassif: More of Us in Israel are Saying No to this Endless War

(August 27, 2025)

As the descendant of a Jewish family from Poland, the words “never again” have significant meaning for me. In the aftermath of the Second World War, humankind vowed to never again allow such atrocities to occur. The Holocaust, the mass extermination of the Jewish people, plumbed the very depths of tyrannical evil. Precisely because of this heritage, I view “never again” as a universal imperative.

In 1948, the international community adopted the universal declaration of human rights and the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. In the decades since, we have failed globally many times to safeguard this invaluable truth: that people must not perish in flames, and such heinous crimes must not be perpetrated while outsiders stand idly by. But never in recent times have people around the world started into the abyss of annihilation as we are doing today in Gaza. As such, “never again” is not merely a moral reminder but an ethical decree to act.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, as the saying goes. It seems that Netanyahu manages to fool western leaders time and time again. On Friday, in response to the IPC declaration of famine, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said it was an “utterly horrifying and wholly preventable man-made catastrophe”. May I ask Lammy and the rest of the British cabinet – are you among the people responsible for this catastrophe?

26.08.2025 - 20:53 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Adalah: Police’s Failure to Investigate Attempted Lynch of MK Odeh

Upon MK Odeh’s arrival, dozens of rioters attacked his car and shouted racist slogans such as “Death to Arabs.” When MK Odeh spoke at the protest, he was attacked again, together with the other demonstrators, as various objects were thrown at them. Following his speech, MK Odeh managed to reach his car, while rioters armed with stones and sticks tried to attack him. At one point, the rioters hurled a large stone that shattered the vehicle’s rear windshield. After these events, the police arrested only three people: one of whom was a demonstrator who had been attacked by the rioters; he was released shortly thereafter at the police station. The court later released the two other individuals who were arrested and detained.

Following these events, right-wing activists uploaded dozens of posts and videos on social media platforms praising, sympathizing and encouraging these assaults; some even explicitly called for repeating such acts in the future.

19.08.2025 - 18:04 [ Al Jazeera ]

WATCH: Israeli politician forcibly removed from Knesset podium

(video)

07.08.2025 - 13:22 [ @lespresso / Youtube ]

Israele, il deputato Cassif cita Grossman e parla di genocidio. Allontanato dall‘aula con la forza

Alla Knesset non si può dire genocidio. Lo ha constatato a sue spese il deputato della lista di sinistra „Hadash-Taal“ Ofer Cassif. Durante un suo intervento in parlamento, ha citato lo scrittore israeliano David Grossman che in un‘intervista rilasciata a Repubblica ha dichiarato: „Per anni mi sono rifiutato di usare il termine genocidio, ma ora, dopo le immagini che ho visto e dopo aver parlato con le persone che erano lì, non posso più evitarlo“.

07.08.2025 - 13:17 [ The Alice in DownUnderland Project / Youtube ]

Ofer Cassif removed from Knesset podium for quoting David Grossman

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Israeli parliamentarian Ofer Cassif, from the left-wing Hadash-Ta’al party, was forcibly removed from the Knesset podium on Monday night during a plenary session after quoting renowned Israeli writer and novelist David Grossman, who acknowledged in an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica last week that, with “‘immense pain and a broken heart”, Israel is currently committing “genocide” in Gaza. “For years I refused to use the term genocide, but now, after the images I’ve seen and after speaking to people who were there, I can no longer avoid it,’” Cassif said in his speech. Haaretz said the session was chaired by deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi, who interrupted Cassif, saying “That’s not a quote – that’s made up,” and demanded Cassif be removed from the podium, followed by Likud member Tali Gottlieb who shouted: “He will not say ‘genocide’ in here!” before Knesset ushers physically removed Cassif from the podium.

14.07.2025 - 22:25 [ Times of Israel ]

With only 73 votes in favor, motion to expel Hadash-Ta’al chair Ayman Odeh fails to pass

The petition was put forth in January, when Odeh said he was “happy for the release of hostages and prisoners” as part of the Gaza truce that was signed that month. The petition clinched the required number of signatures after Odeh said at an anti-war protest in Haifa in May that “Gaza has won and Gaza will win.”

Both United Torah Judaism and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White—National Unity party boycott the vote, while Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and most of his Yesh Atid party’s MKs are absent as well.

The measure is supported by the coalition and by opposition party Yisrael Beytenu. The Democrats vote against it.

14.07.2025 - 22:20 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch and Chris Van Hollen in Solidarity with Odeh

(16 hours ago)

“We strongly condemn the effort to expel MK Ayman Odeh from the Israeli Knesset,” the US senators said. “If Israel is going to call itself a democracy, it must tolerate peaceful dissent.” The senators linked the expulsion effort to Odeh’s calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and a political solution between Israelis and Palestinians.

“For over a decade, MK Odeh has been a leading advocate for peace, justice, and Jewish-Arab partnership,” they said. “The current expulsion effort is a direct response to MK Odeh’s outspoken and brave calls.” The lawmakers described the move as sending “a chilling message to millions of Palestinian citizens of Israel: that their representation is conditional and their rights revocable.” “We stand in solidarity with MK Odeh and with the right of all lawmakers, Arab and Jewish, to speak freely and without fear of political retribution,” they said.