Knesset ethics committee suspends MK Ofer Cassif
The Knesset’s Ethics Committee ruled to suspend Hadash Ta’al MK Ofer Cassif for 45 days without pay on Wednesday, the committee announced.
Cassif’s suspension comes after he spoke out against Israel in foreign media during Israel’s war with Hamas.
On the first occasion, Cassif said that “Israel wanted this violence” two days after the massive Hamas attack on Israel in which at least 1,400 Israelis were murdered. He added that all peace lovers should “join forces to say to Israel ‘you are going to end the occupation now.’”
Cassif then gave an interview on Sunday in which he accused Israel of enacting a plan in its war with Hamas that he compared to the Nazi’s Final Solution against Jews.
The committee also discussed other statements made by Cassif but decided to penalize him only for the two aforementioned occasions because they were made during wartime to foreign media.
Also on Wednesday, the Knesset passed a law that would enable National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to announce a state of emergency in prisons, changing the rules on prisoner accommodation.
As per the law, if a state of emergency was declared, prisons would be allowed to hold more prisoners in a single cell than usual and have prisoners sleep on two mattresses instead of beds.
Ben-Gvir would only be allowed to enact the law with the consensus of the Israel Prison Services
chief, the prime minister, and the defense minister. The state of emergency would be valid for five days and can be extended for another five days at a time up to 30 days.
The law was passed due to the situation created by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 in which there is a massive spike in arrests of terrorists which is threatening to overload Israel’s prisons.
Another law passed on Wednesday to help with the overload of prisoners was a a law that allows courts to hold arraignment hearings over video conferencing, and even by phone when necessary, instead of in person.
The Knesset also passed a law aimed at economically aiding soldiers, police officers, prison guards, and certain firefighters, as well as people who were missing, or hostages, and people who evacuated from the South.
The law allows these people to extend payments determined in contracts or by court orders that are due between October 7 and November 7. This does not include child support and paying employees their salaries.
The new law allows Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to extend the period if necessary.
National Unity MK Ze’ev Elkin, who pushed for the law, thanked the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and Justice Minister Yariv Levin for supporting the bill and legislating it quickly.
“If the war continues for more than a month, we’ll make sure to prepare continuing legislation to economically protect our soldiers, the evacuated families, and the families of hostages,” he said.