Effort to expel MK Ofer Cassif from Knesset falls short of needed majority

The Knesset plenum rejected the request to expel MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta’al) from the Knesset, after the needed majority of 90 MKs was not reached.

In the moment of truth, 85 MKs supported the motion and 11 opposed it. Benny Gantz, Gadi Aizenkot, Yair Lapid, and most of the Yesh Atid party were absent from the vote – effectively defeating the motion.

The request to expel Cassif was submitted by MK Oded Forer after Cassif signed a petition supporting the suit South Africa brought against Israel in the Hague on the charge of “genocide.”

The effort did gather broad support among most parties and was approved by the Knesset Committee by a large majority, but after the publication of the Knesset legal advisor and the Attorney General on the matter, some of the members of Yesh Atid and the State Camp parties changed their stance on the issue.

The Fear of Lapid, Gantz, and the Charedim

In the past few weeks, the Arab parties applied pressure to Gantz and Lapid on the one hand and the Charedi parties on the other. They persuaded some of the members of Lapid and Gantz’s parties to not allow the expulsion, since if the Supreme Court struck down this decision, it would give the right a new reason to attack the court.

In addition, some of the Arab MKs appealed to the Charedi MKs – who work together with them on a number of issues – arguing that supporting Forer’s effort would serve as a precedent that would then be used against them.