Hadash lawmaker Ofer Cassif was forcibly removed from the Knesset podium on Monday night, August 4, after quoting most celebrated Israeli author living David Grossman’s recent remarks describing Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as genocide.

“Stop the genocide”, MK Ofer Cassif during a demonstration near the border with Gaza, July 2025 (Photo: Al-Ittihad)

During a plenary session, Cassif cited Grossman’s statement published in Italian newspaper La Repubblica, in which the writer expressed, “For years I refused to use the term genocide, but now, after the images I’ve seen and after speaking to people who were there, I can no longer avoid it.” Cassif added that Grossman spoke with “immense pain and a broken heart.”

His remarks were abruptly interrupted by Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi (Likud), who claimed the quote “was fabricated.” Fellow Likud member Tali Gottlieb also objected loudly, declaring, “He will not say genocide in here!” Knesset ushers then physically removed Cassif from the podium amid ongoing protests.

In a message on X, Cassif himself commented on the episode, stressing that he had been violently removed from the Knesset “in the middle of my speech, simply because I quoted the words of Israeli writer Grossman against the genocide in Gaza.” “Even critical writers can no longer be quoted in the Parliament of the only democracy in the Middle East. To paraphrase (the German poet, Heinrich) Heine: where it is forbidden to quote writers, eventually opponents of the regime will also be banned.”

Cassif, a leading member of the Communist Party of Israel, has been penalized twice already during the war, suspended from Knesset activity both for supporting South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and calling the actions of Israeli occupation soldiers in Gaza war crimes.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32864