Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara will file an indictment against Hadash MK Ofer Cassif for assaulting a police officer under aggravated circumstances, Reshet Bet Radio reported Tuesday.
The incident in question was an alleged attack on a policeman at a demonstration in the Mount Hebron area. The AG’s decision to indict follows a hearing in which Cassif’s claims were rejected, and she is therefore endorsing the position of Lahav 433 special police investigations unit and senior judicial officials, including State Attorney Amit Isman.
תיעוד: עימות פיזי בין ח”כ עופר כסיף לשוטר שחסם את דרכו להפגנה בדרום הר חברוןhttps://t.co/pzcpYM8ZsM@moyshis pic.twitter.com/Yc1x53CjsS
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 13, 2022
The indictment relates to MK Cassif’s conduct during the demonstration that took place in May 2022 in the southern Mount Hebron area, against a court ruling to evacuate local villages. The security forces issued orders restricting bus traffic and declared various locations within the area as closed military zones. But a demonstration took place at the forbidden area despite the warning, and a Border Guard officer informed Cassif that he could not drive his vehicle in the direction of the demonstrators but would have to walk over.
The MK ignored the warning and began to drive slowly until he hit the leg of a police officer who was blocking his path. In response, the policeman hit the car’s hood and shouted at Cassif. Cassif allegedly got out of his car and hit the policeman on the head.
MK Cassif was interrogated for five hours by Lahav 433 and denied vehemently that he attacked the policeman. According to him, it was a trick of the camera angle.
Cassif, 59, served as a parliamentary aide to the Secretary General of the Israeli Communist Party, Meir Willner. In 2019, after the Hadash communist party’s former Jewish token MK Dov Hanin retired from politics, Casif replaced him on the Hadash list.
In December 2015, Cassif said about then-Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked: “This neo-Nazi scum is not only complicit in the fascistization of Israel but is also indirectly complicit in genocide in Africa and crimes against humanity.” Shaked filed a complaint with the police, but Cassif refused to apologize.
In April 2017, during a class at the Haredi preparatory school of the Hebrew University, Cassif compared the laws promoted by the Netanyahu government to the laws of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
In August 2017, Cassif wrote about the Jews ascending to the Temple Mount: “These sickening messianists are no different from the zealots of Bar Koziba rebellion, metastasizing cancer that must be eliminated with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.”
On June 9, 2023, when a protester shouted at MK Cassif, “My friend was murdered here,” the MK replied: “Soon it should be you. (Bekarov etzlecha).”
Following his outrageous statements, on March 5, 2023, the Knesset Ethics Committee ban MK Cassif from attending Knesset committees until the end of the summer session.
Maybe so he’ll have more free time to punch policemen.
