Geneva, Switzerland: Speaker of the Knesset MK Amir Ohana (Likud) delivered a firmly-worded address on Wednesday before dozens of leaders of parliaments from across the globe, at the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The conference was held at the United Nations office in Geneva.
In the course of speaker mk Ohana’s address, the members of the Iranian and PA delegations left the auditorium. Members of the Yemenite delegation marched out demonstratively under the podium at which the Knesset Speaker was delivering his speech.
Video: Knesset Speaker MK Ohana addresses the conference
In his address, Speaker of the Knesset MK Ohana commented on the statements made by the President of France and the Prime Minister of Britain, saying, “Rewarding Hamas by recognizing a Palestinian state—in light of October 7—will not bring stability, coexistence and cooperation, it will bring more murder of Israelis and Jews. If you wish for that, if you wish what you call a Palestinian state, put it up in London, in Paris, in your countries—which become more and more similar to the Middle East.”
At the height of his address, Speaker MK Ohana held up a tablet and showed a video of a meeting of the Iranian Parliament from last June, in which the Members of Parliament chant, “Death to America, death to Israel,” after having passed a bill for suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Speaker MK Ohana said, “This is not footage of an underground terror cell. It is the official parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran—a full member of this forum—openly calling for the annihilation of two sovereign states. Sadly, many remain silent in the face of such menacing rhetoric, like so many did eighty years ago.”
The Knesset Speaker attacked Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who had presented several minutes earlier the photos from the New York Times of a “starving” Gazan, saying, “Their claim is fake. The child in that photo is not suffering from hunger, but from a medical condition called CP. Even the New York Times admitted this today. But Ghalibaf will seize every blood libel [that the] fake news media hands him. What a disgrace of a newspaper. What a disgrace of a speaker. Shame on you both.”
Speaker MK Ohana said further that Israel had learned from its history the cost of ignoring threats of annihilation. Today, he said, Khamenei knows the price of posing a threat to Israel. The Knesset Speaker said that since October 7, Israel had risen from the depths and reached the peaks—dominating the skies of Iran.
Addressing the leaders of parliaments, Speaker of the Knesset MK Ohana stated the following: Fifty of our brothers and sisters, innocent people, are being held as hostages by Hamas. They are hungry. They are tortured. They are afraid. And they are alone in the dark tunnels of Gaza. Not a single Gazan has lifted a finger to help bring them back home. We will bring them back, said the Knesset Speaker.
Earlier on Wednesday, Speaker MK Ohana met with Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense, Interior and foreign affairs Committee at the Federal National Council (FNC) of the United Arab Emirates. This meeting is part of a marathon of diplomatic meetings that began on Tuesday night upon the Knesset Speaker’s landing, when he met with the speakers of the parliaments of Chile, Brazil and Belgium, and is scheduled to include meetings with over 20 leaders of parliaments from across the globe, including Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Britain, Slovakia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Ghana, Nepal and Congo.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is a global organization of national parliaments from around the world. The IPU numbers 193 member states, including Iran and the Arab states.
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