The Knesset’s Ethics Committee voted on Wednesday to bar Hadash MK Ofer Cassif from participating in any parliamentary committee hearings for a month over a series of anti-occupation remarks he made against fellow lawmakers and far-right civilians.

MK Ofer Cassif (third from right) during the last May Day rally held in Nazareth (Photo: Zo Haderech)

Cassif is one of the Knesset’s most critical lawmakers of the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a series of Ethics Committee complaints were filed against him by racist MKs.

Explaining its decision, the panel pointed to a post he wrote after a meeting with lawmakers of the Workers’ Party of Belgium where he said: “I congratulated the representative from the city of Liège on his city council’s decision to boycott Israel as long as the occupation and fascism continue.”

The Ethics Committee also adjudicated complaints made against Constitution Law and Justice Committee chair MK Simcha Rothman, a member of the fascist Religious Zionism party, who was accused of abusing his authority to deny lawmakers their right to speak during his panel meetings. Ultimately, the coalition-controlled Ethics Committee determined that Rothman’s conduct did not warrant censure.