The following day, the extreme-right, racist Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben Gvir, published on his social network a photo of comrade Ayman Odeh (Head of the Hadash-Ta'al coalition) with Khalida Jarrar (Palestinian PFLP parliamentarian), with a comment threatening the revocation of Comrade Todeh's mandate.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said that the debate “was conducted like a political circus, whose outcome was determined by populist political considerations,” and called the committee vote “a shameful act of McCarthyism and gagging, which severely harms freedom of expression, the right to vote, and be elected.”
“We cannot accept the argument that opposing the fighting in Gaza and demanding an end to violations of international law is tantamount to supporting Hamas’ massacres against Israel,” ACRI continued. “This is a dangerous position that will lead to a fatal blow to the freedom of expression of elected officials and citizens, and is a slippery slope.”
Both Cassif and Odeh are facing this persecution for being staunch voices, both in the Knesset as well as in the streets, against the genocidal practices of the far-right government headed by Benjamin Nethanyahu. Both comrades, also members of the Communist Party of Israel (Maki) have ardently defended the end of the war against the Palestinian people and the end of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.
