TEL AVIV – A Kuwaiti parliament speaker who called Israeli lawmakers “child killers” and ordered them to leave an international gathering of parliamentarians was awarded the status of “Personality of the Year 2018” by a Palestinian group on Saturday, a move that was apparently “blessed” by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
During an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference held in St Petersburg, Russia last October, Marzouq al-Ghanim told one of the members of the Israeli delegation, “The saying ‘if you have no shame do as you please’ applies to the comments made by this rapist (Israeli) parliamentarian.”
“You should grab your bags and leave this hall as you have witnessed the reaction of every honorable parliament around the world,” he said.
“Leave now if you have one ounce of dignity, you occupier, you murderer of children,” he added.
The Jerusalem Intellectuals Forum said it honored Ghanim for his “national role in supporting the Palestinian cause” and preserving the “just rights” of the Palestinian people, its chairman Talal Abu Afifeh said in a statement published by the Kuwait News Agency.
Abbas blessed the decision, the statement said.
Likud MK Sharren Heskel, Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin, Zionist Union MKs Yossi Yonah and Nachman Shai, and Knesset Secretary Yardena Meller-Horowitz said they were frequently heckled while trying to speak at the event.
The Israeli delegation walked out of the convention in protest of a series of anti-Israel resolutions, they said, contradicting reports by Palestinians that the Israelis had been forcibly “expelled” by the Kuwaiti speaker.
According to Press TV, their walkout was accompanied by applause from other parliamentarians.
The head of the delegation of the Palestinian National Council at the IPU, Azzam al-Ahmad, said Ghanim’s remarks voiced the thoughts of all the Arab nations, Press TV said at the time.
“Ghanim’s words in front of the delegates shine a light on the wounds Palestinians have suffered,” he said.
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