MK Ofer Cassif claims in speech that Israel's policy in Judea and Samaria is far worse than that of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

MK Ofer Cassif of the Hadash faction of the Joint List party spoke at the Knesset on Tuesday and responded to MK Matan Kahane (New Right) who spoke on the occasion of Human Rights Day and said that Israel should not be compared to an apartheid state.

In response, Cassif said, "Knesset member Matan Kahane said earlier that it is shameful to compare Israel to apartheid. I think he is right. As Mandela's grandson said only two months ago, Israel is worse than apartheid! And it is Matan Kahane's friends who are responsible for it.”

"Look at what is happening in Hevron, a separation that is worse than it was in the apartheid regime. Streets for Jews and streets for Arabs, and now they also want to demolish the market to establish a neighborhood for Jews only. So is there room to talk about apartheid?" he continued.

"Not only Mandela's grandson, but also Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said that in Israel there is a policy of apartheid that has been reflected in, among other things, the expropriation of Palestinian indigenous lands, and the creation of Bantustans, which is also what the Netanyahu government has done during its years."

"And if that is not enough, there are ministers here who talk about the special Jewish race, see the example of Miki Zohar, and a minister here who talks about the need to separate pregnant women in hospitals. If that’s not apartheid, I don't know what apartheid is," Cassif concluded.

Cassif, a Hebrew University professor who replaced Dov Khenin as the sole Jewish representative in Hadash, has repeatedly drawn criticism for his comparisons of Israeli leaders and even the State of Israel to the Nazi party and Nazi-era Germany.

Cassif once shared a Facebook post calling Ayelet Shaked, who at the time was serving as Justice Minister, a “neo-Nazi scum”.

In 2017, he was recorded during a class comparing the State of Israel to Nazi Germany, warning that Israel was “on a slippery slope” to fascism.

In September, Cassif criticized Israeli forces for eliminating a female terrorist who tried to carry out a stabbing attack against security forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint, claiming the terrorist “was murdered” and added that she “walked into the checkpoint and was executed by one of the murderous squads of the occupation.”

Before the April election, the Central Elections Committee decided to disqualify Cassif from running, but the Supreme Court overturned that decision.