The Israeli Parliament has decided to suspend opposition MP Ofer Cassif from parliament for 6 months due to his comments that the attacks in Gaza were a “genocide”.
Ofer Cassif, an opposition party member of the Israeli parliament, was suspended from parliament for 6 months after he said the Israeli government was carrying out “deliberate genocide” in the Gaza Strip. According to Israeli media, Cassif’s salary will also be cut during this period.
Cassif, who accused the Israeli government of “genocide” regarding its operations in Gaza, also signed a petition supporting the case filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice. These statements led to his being suspended from parliament.
According to JNS, Cassif, who is Jewish, signed a petition in support of the South African case against Israel and on Sunday said that members of the government were calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide.
Forer is working to collect signatures from 70 members of parliament to expel Cassif, a process that would then require approval from a Knesset committee and finally 90 votes out of 120 in the plenum to pass.
Cassif’s sentence for his statements against the attacks in Gaza is said to be the most severe punishment given to a member of parliament in recent years. A motion was previously made to strip Cassif of his seat, but the motion was rejected because the required majority was not achieved.
