[4] He then earned a PhD in political philosophy at the London School of Economics with a thesis titled On nationalism and democracy: A Marxist examination,[6] and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University.

[4] While studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Cassif was an anti-war activist and worked as a parliamentary aide to Hadash MK Meir Vilner.

[8] In March 2019, the Central Election Committee disqualified him from running, citing statements deemed as provocative, including his description of Ayelet Shaked as "neo-Nazi scum.

Politicians across the political spectrum, including Ahmad Tibi and Gideon Sa'ar (who described the attack as "a murderous blow to the parliament and to parliamentary immunity"), condemned the incident.

"[14] On 8 October 2023, shortly after the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, Cassif told Al Jazeera that his party had warned the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories would result in such conflict.

[17] Cassif stated: My constitutional duty is to Israeli society and all of its residents, not to a government whose members and its coalition are calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide.

The suspension cited a tweet by Cassif referring to Palestinians fighting the IDF in Jenin as "freedom fighter[s]",[additional citation(s) needed] and his continuing public support for South Africa's genocide case against Israel.