Kuwait's parliament speaker calls for expulsion of Israel from global parliamentary union

The speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament Marzouq Ghanim has called for Israel to be expelled from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a world association of national parliaments.

He criticised what he slammed as "double standards" in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Responding to a proposal by the IPU's 12+ Group, which includes European countries, Canada, and Australia to expel Russia from the global parliamentary body over its attack on Ukraine, Ghanim said: "How can they ask for expelling the Russian delegation or any other delegation from the IPU for an invasion that took place days or weeks ago and not expelling the Israelis for the invasion that took place before 60 years?"

The Kuwaiti Delegation Addressing 12+ committee to treat all aggressors alike, Israel should not be treated any differently. Kuwait was occupied 30+ years ago, they know how it is to be occupied by another country. The speaker requested that they should not be double standards pic.twitter.com/xeMKsXt2zm

— $aeedxb1 (@Saeedxb1) March 21, 2022

The Kuwaiti parliament speaker made the statement at the IPU's annual conference, which began this month in Nusa Dua in Indonesia.

He said that while he was not opposed to measures against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, these measures should be universally applied.

"We definitely in principle condemn any occupation, and I’m talking from a country that was occupied 30 years ago," Ghanem remarked, referring to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Ghanim has previously strongly criticised Israel, which continues to occupy the West Bank and besiege the Gaza Strip in violation of international law.

At a previous IPU conference in 2017, he shouted at Israeli delegates, saying: "Get out of the room, child killers!"

He has also urged Arab states to unite to have Israel expelled from the world parliamentary body.