The only Jewish member of Israel’s majority-Arab Chadash-Ta’al party said that attacks by Palestinians against Israelis in West Bank settlements do not constitute “terror.”
This comes days after a shooting attack in the settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron that left one Israeli dead and several others wounded.
In an interview with Israel’s Ynet, Ofer Cassif said that the Palestinian who killed Ronen Hananiya was a terrorist “in a way.”
“We do support nonviolent resistance to the occupation, but we need to understand that the occupation results in daily resistance. There are also pogroms of settlers against Palestinians. So they are also guilty in the attacks.”
Continuing, Cassif said, “Don’t describe him (Hananiya) as an innocent man” and that his murder “is not terror.”
He also stated that those in the militant Lions’ Den group aren’t terrorists, as the “fight against Israeli security forces is not terrorism.”
Cassif continued that the Lions’ Den “fight” is “a legitimate struggle under international law” but that he preferred “non-violent struggle.”
When asked if the murder of Israeli soldier Noa Lazar, who was standing at a checkpoint when she was killed by a Palestinian, “isn’t terrorism,” Cassif stated: “We don’t want such incidents to happen, but those who are responsible for the killing of hers and others – are those who sent her to serve as cannon fodder.”
Cassif was then asked about those behind the Bnei Brak terrorist attack earlier this month that resulted in the death of five people.
“Those who kill innocent civilians like in Bnei Brak are certainly terrorists.” – i24 News
Set him up in Arab-held Chevron for some time and let’s see what he has to say afterward (if he makes it)
Angry boy found way to be MK. Needs a therapist, not a counter-argument