Arab Joint List MK: ‘Occupation is biggest terror’ in Middle East

Far-left lawmaker Ofer Cassif seemed to defend Palestinian terror as legitimate “resistance.”

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinians is the “biggest source of terror” in the region, MK Ofer Cassif from the Arab Joint List said Wednesday.

The far-left lawmaker further charged that any individual who attempts to “ignore the fact that the occupation is terror is either an ignoramus who doesn’t know what terror is or a liar who knows what terror is and is trying to hide it,” according to a translation of his remarks by The Jerusalem Post.

He made his comments at a Knesset caucus aimed at ending the “occupation,” comprised of parliamentarians from the Joint List, Meretz and Labor, as well as representatives from left-wing NGOs.

Cassif then launched into a diatribe that seemed to defend Palestinian terror, saying, “When such an [Israeli] terror exists, there is resistance.”

“No nation will live under a foreign government without resisting,” Cassif said.

He underscored his point by arguing that even former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed that individuals who fight against armies should be defined as guerrillas, not terrorists.

The “occupation” has also resulted in the “demonization and dehumanization of those who resist,” he added.

Rebel MK Amichai Chikli, who was recently ousted from the rightwing Yamina party for renegading, slammed the assertions made during the caucus.

He denounced the notion of Israel as an occupying force in its biblical heartland, of which “we are natives,” and quoting from the bible, said that “David captured Jerusalem.”

Touma-Suleiman responded by quipping, “So is that where the occupation started?”

For her part, Touma-Suleiman claimed that the “occupation” and its “dispossession and oppression” of Palestinians was worsening.

“It is the duty of every man and woman with integrity and moral backbone to challenge this enterprise and to act for its dissolution,” she said.

“It must be said in a sharp and clear voice, without compromise – enough with occupation, racism and apartheid,” she added.