Israel Is Arming Fascist Militias To Suppress Dissent, Knesset Member Warns

In this exclusive interview with Truthout, suspended Knesset member Ofer Cassif describes how former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon set the stage for deteriorating conditions in Gaza after pushing through the 2004 disengagement plan.

By Brian Bean, TRUTHOUT

On October 19, an Israeli Parliament ethics committee suspended Knesset member Ofer Cassif for 45 days after he warned that an “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces is underway. Cassif is an ex-professor in political science and philosophy with a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. He has represented the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash-Ta’al) coalition in the Knesset since 2019.

In this exclusive interview with Truthout, Cassif describes how former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon set the stage for deteriorating conditions in Gaza after pushing through the 2004 disengagement plan. He also details the genocidal implications of Jewish supremacist Bezalel Smotrich’s “subjugation plan” and the ways the plan is being implemented in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

brian bean: Can you talk about why, in talking about the events of October 7, you’ve put the main emphasis on the need to end the occupation?

Ofer Cassif: It’s crucially important for me to express my total, unreserved condemnation and disgust at the brutal massacre that Hamas did in the south of Israel. There’s no justification whatsoever for such carnage. Neither the occupation nor anything else. That’s something that I must emphasize.

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