MK Avichai Boaron has petitioned the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Noam Solberg, demanding that communist MK Ofer Cassif be barred from running in the 26th Knesset elections. Boaron bases his demand on Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset, arguing that Cassif’s statements and actions over the years amount to an evidentiary foundation justifying his disqualification.
2+The petition follows a series of Channel 14 reports exposing statements and actions attributed to Cassif, including remarks about attacks against Israelis, legitimizing armed struggle against IDF soldiers, supporting legal action against Israel at the Hague, and calling for boycotts of Israel. Boaron also cites footage aired on the channel showing the communist MK hurling harsh curses at a reserve soldier.
According to Boaron, this isn’t about a single statement or political disagreement, but rather “a long pattern of statements and actions” that he says includes justifying armed struggle against IDF soldiers, supporting international proceedings against Israel, calling for boycotts of the state, and confrontations with security forces. “Ofer Cassif has crossed red lines time and again,” Boaron said. “For years he has spoken out against the State of Israel, given legitimacy to harming IDF soldiers, and worked in the international arena against Israel. Even after October 7, in the midst of war, he continued on the same path.”
2+Boaron argues that the right to hold a political position does not include, in his view, the right to act against the State of Israel or legitimize armed struggle against it. “The petition I filed is not based on a single statement or political disagreement, but on a long pattern of statements and actions that are examined and evaluated according to the grounds set out in Section 7A of Basic Law: The Knesset,” he said.
The current move follows a previous attempt to bar Cassif from running. Ahead of the 2019 elections, the Central Elections Committee disqualified his candidacy, but the Supreme Court overturned the decision and allowed him to run. Boaron emphasizes that significant changes have occurred since then, chief among them the events of October 7 and the war that followed, alongside additional statements and actions by Cassif.
2+According to Boaron, even the 2019 ruling found that some of Cassif’s statements regarding harming IDF soldiers were harsh and could be interpreted as legitimizing attacks on them. “All the more so today, when the evidentiary foundation is broader and completely different,” he argued.
Boaron, who previously worked to oust MK Ayman Odeh from the Knesset, declared he intends to fight this time as well until the process is exhausted. According to him, the decision to oust Odeh was approved by a large majority in the Knesset Committee, but failed in the plenum vote after Yesh Atid members, led by Yair Lapid, did not support the move.
“The Knesset is not a safe haven for those who act against the State of Israel,” Boaron declared. “The time has come to say clearly: terror supporters have no place in the Israeli Knesset. Just as I worked during the term to oust terror supporter Ayman Odeh from the Knesset, this time too I intend to fight with all my strength to oust Cassif from the Israeli Knesset.”