Knesset member Ofer Cassif, the sole Jewish lawmaker of the predominantly Arab Hadash party, which is part of the Hadash-Ta’al alliance in the outgoing Knesset, was convicted on Thursday of assaulting a police officer under aggravated circumstances during a 2022 protest in the South Hebron Hills of Judea, Ynet reported.
The Jerusalem District Court accepted the prosecution’s position and ruled that Cassif’s actions were not covered by self-defense or his parliamentary immunity.
According to the indictment, the assault took place after an Israel Border Police officer tried to stop Cassif from driving his car toward the protest using a road in a closed military zone leading to Palestinian Authority-controlled Area A.
After an argument, Cassif reversed his vehicle several meters and then drove toward an officer standing in front of the car, striking his leg. He then got out and hit the officer on the head, the indictment said.
Jerusalem District Court Judge Elazar Bialin in his ruling said that Cassif had acted in a “forceful and crude” manner toward security forces. He noted that Cassif had also hurled insults during the incident.
Speaking to reporters ahead of sentencing, Cassif called the trial “part of the continued political persecution.
“It’s not me who is on trial here. An entire [political] camp is on trial—a camp that presents a real alternative to the government of murder. That’s why they are persecuting us and want to silence us,” he claimed.
Cassif has often stirred controversies in the Knesset.
In October 2023, Cassif was suspended from the Knesset for 45 days for anti-Israel comments he made in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
The Knesset Ethics Committee based its decision on remarks Cassif made that drew a connection between the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust and “current government policy in times of war.”
