Hadash MKs Ayman Odeh and Ofer Cassif were ousted on Monday afternoon, October 13, from the Knesset plenum during US President Donald Trump’s speech. During the speech, the MKs shouted “terrorist” at Trump and held up signs that read “Recognize Palestine”. “That was very efficient,” Trump said, as Cassif and Odeh were forcibly escorted out by Knesset security.
In response to his ejection from the plenum, Odeh said that he had “raised the most basic demand, a demand that the entire international community agrees upon: To recognize a Palestinian state.” Cassif said that the Hadash MKs “didn’t come to disturb, but to demand justice.”
“Recognize Palestine!”, MK Ayman Odeh, at the Knessest. After the hostage’s release he says “joy is mixed with pain” (Photo: Zo Haderekh)
Earlier, MK Odeh, welcomes the release of the Israeli hostages as part of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but says his “joy is mixed with pain.” “We have fought for two years for this moment, for the end of the war and a comprehensive deal. We are happy, but our joy is mixed with pain, because of the terrible crimes that were committed and the tunnels of blood our land has absorbed,” he says in a statement, referring to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
He adds that Israel and the Palestinians must “continue the struggle” to achieve a peaceful resolution to the wider conflict, end the occupation and respect the rights of both peoples.
According to Cassif, “Although it is a positive development that this genocide has ended and the hostages are being released, we must not be confused: Trump was a supporter of this genocide from the very beginning, and an active partner in it since the start of his presidency. We should and shall never forget that Trump was the one who said, ‘You’re talking about a million and a half people [in Gaza], and we just clean out that whole thing,’ and that ‘Under my plan Gazans would relocate permanently, not be able to return.’ He also explicitly threatened that in Gaza ‘all hell will break out.’ With his complete support for the murderous government, he not only enabled the continuation of the genocide but also the continued abandonment of the kidnapped.”
He agreed, “Don’t thank him: boo him! It was only once Israel became too insane, chaotic and unstable to serve Trump’s imperialist interests that he decided to put an end to the bloodshed. A man who sends troops to invade his own cities and arrest and harass his own people, on top of his imperialist moves, certainly has not an ounce of care for either the Israeli or Palestinian people. Only a just peace, built on the two-state solution and complete self-determination for the Palestinian people, can bring stability and prosperity between the river and the sea, not the imperialist schemes of a demented narcissist and sexual predator.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33028
