The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Hadi via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – In the wake of Israel announcing its withdrawal from United Nations cultural body UNESCO due to anti-Israel bias, Israeli representatives walked out of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) gathering in St. Petersburg this week after encountering severe harassment from Arab and Muslim parliamentarians.

At IPU’s 137th Assembly, the Israeli delegation walked out in protest of the passage of resolutions calling for the release of convicted Palestinian terrorists Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat, and after facing continuous interruptions from IPU members.

Following the walkout, video footage circulated on social media showing Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim furiously lambasting Israeli lawmakers, calling them “child killers” and screaming at them to “get out of the hall.”

Additional video footage from the event shows Knesset member Sharren Haskel (Likud) passionately defending Israel, and refusing to stop speaking as representatives banged on their tables to silence her speech.

“Countries like Pakistan, Syria and Iran are behaving hypocritically, they are telling us (Israel) what it is to preserve human rights,” said Haskel. “I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.”

“I feel sorry for the Palestinian people. Their representatives are abusing their power, and stealing their money,” she said, referencing Palestinian funding of terrorism against Israelis over areas such as education and infrastructure.

Following the IPU assembly, the Israeli delegation forwarded a letter to the organization’s president, Saber Chowdhury of Bangladesh, calling the credibility of the union into question.