Knesset member supports South Africa's genocide hearings on Gaza

JERUSALEM

The Israeli government and its members are advocating for ethnic cleansing and even genocide in Gaza, lawmaker from the Arab-majority Hadas-Ta’al party and a Knesset member Ofer Cassif, who has supported South Africa's genocide proceedings against Tel Aviv, said on Sunday.

"My constitutional duty is to Israeli society and all its residents, not to a government whose members and its coalition are calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide," Cassif said on X. "Those who hurt the country and the people are the ones who led South Africa to turn to The Hague, not me and my friends."

Cassif has endorsed the petition supporting the lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza and accuses Israel of committing genocide.

"When the government acts against society, the state, and its citizens, especially when it sacrifices them and commits crimes in their name on the altar of maintaining its existence, it is my right and even my duty to warn about this and do everything I can within the law to stop it," Cassif said.

"I will not give up the fight for our existence as a moral society. This is true patriotism … not unnecessary bloodshed, and not sacrificing kidnapped citizens and soldiers in senseless wars," he added.

Cassif is said to have faced sharp criticism from far-right lawmakers after signing a petition in support of the lawsuit, whose hearings will take place on Jan. 11 and 12.

Over 22,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Gaza conflict, which broke out after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas offensive.

Some 85% of Gaza’s population of more than 2.2 million have fled their homes.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio