Jeremy Corbyn, the former British Labour Party leader who has since been elected as an independent MP, met Wednesday with Ofir Cassif, the only Jewish lawmaker in Israel’s Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al Party.
“A pleasure to see my friend Ofer Cassif today,” tweeted Corbyn, whose newly-formed “Your Party” earlier this month declared its “absolute opposition” to Zionism, the Jewish right to self-determination.
“Ofer has continued to speak out against Israel’s war crimes and defend the right of Palestinians to live in dignity,” Corbyn wrote. “I admire his fortitude, bravery and principles—whatever the political and personal costs.”
A pleasure to see my friend Ofer Cassif today.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) November 12, 2025
Ofer has continued to speak out against Israel's war crimes and defend the right of Palestinians to live in dignity.
I admire his fortitude, bravery and principles — whatever the political and personal costs. https://t.co/hxrDcvV0cX
Cassif, in a Hebrew-language X post, said he urged his “dear friend” Corbyn to raise in parliament the issues of “settler violence and the violence of the occupation forces in the occupied West Bank,” as well as “growing violence within Israel against opponents of the government.
“When authorities in Israel refrain from addressing Kahanist terrorism and even encourage it, I will turn to every relevant body in the world to save all of us—Israelis and Palestinians alike—from its menace,” added Cassif.
In July, the Knesset Ethics Committee voted to ban Cassif from plenary and committee meetings for two months because of his public incitement against the Jewish state.
The Ethics Committee—which comprises four MKs from both coalition and opposition factions—also voted to dock Cassif’s salary for two weeks over his anti-Israel statements.
The decision noted that the complaints filed against Cassif revealed a “systematic and consistent pattern” of statements accusing Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the State of Israel of “war crimes.”
Cassif was also banned from the Knesset between November 2024 and May 2025 for drawing a connection between the Holocaust and Jerusalem’s actions during the war against Hamas.
In addition, Cassif was suspended for 45 days for anti-Israel comments he made in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre.
