New Zealand legislator removed from Parliament over Israel comments
Chloe Swarbrick, who is co-leader of the Green Party, has been ordered to leave Parliament after she criticised her country’s delay in recognising a Palestinian state and called for sanctions against Israel.
The legislator described New Zealand as a “laggard” and an “outlier” before calling on members of the ruling party to support a bill to “sanction Israel for its war crimes”.
The bill was proposed by her party in March and is supported by all opposition parties. “If we find six of 68 Government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history,” said Swarbrick.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee said that statement was “completely unacceptable” and she had to withdraw it and apologise. When she refused, Swarbrick was ordered to leave parliament.
Brownlee later clarified Swarbrick could return on Wednesday, but if she still refused to apologise, she would again be removed from parliament. New Zealand has said it will make a decision in September about whether it would recognise Palestine as a state.
Yeah this new 'wave' of recognizing Palestine led by France is as insincere as it can be.
‘Protecting humanity in Gaza is a moral, legal and political obligation’: Palestinian Foreign Ministry
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has blamed the international community for inaction over “the genocide of our people” in Gaza, urging global powers to uphold their moral, legal and political obligations.
“Despite the international consensus … on the need to implement international humanitarian law and human rights, the occupying power continues to expand its aggression and deepen its use of starvation, thirst, and denial of medical treatment as weapons in the war,” the ministry said in the statement shared on X.
It stressed that “protecting humanity in the Gaza Strip is a moral, legal, and political obligation on the international community that should not be subject to any narrow calculations or interests.
“Human life is not a bargaining chip, a tool for extortion, or a means of improving terms,” it said.
