EU Parliament head Martin Schulz
EU Parliament head Martin SchulzFlash 90

A speech in Knesset Wednesday given by the head of the European Union Parliament caused outrage, and ultimately sparked a walk-out.

Several MKs expressed upset as EU parliament president Martin Schulz, who spoke in German, repeated as fact Palestinian Authority claims of Israeli discrimination regarding allocation of water in Judea and Samaria, and of a “blockade” on Gaza.

Schulz condemned Israeli “settlements” east of the 1949 armistice line as “an obstacle to peace,” and claimed, “The blockade of Gaza creates despair and extremism.”

MKs reacted with anger. “The president of the European parliament, a son of the German nation, is unashamed to quote lies he heard yesterday in Ramallah,” MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home) accused.

Yogev interrupted Schulz’s speech, saying the EU parliamentary head had “chutzpah” for “supporting the Palestinians who are inciting to destroy Israel, 70 years after the Holocaust.”

Both claims Schulz cited are false, he said. Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs living in Judea and Samaria get equal amounts of water. “Regarding the ‘blockade’ on Gaza, Israel has not been in Gaza for some time, and Israel is the one that supplies the Palestinians in Gaza with food and with the concrete they use against Israel,” he said.

Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett expressed outrage over Schulz’s claims as well. “We will not be silent in the face of lies,” he said.

Culture Minister Limor Livnat and Minister of Pensioners Affairs Uri Orbach criticized Schulz as well. Jewish Home MKs ultimately walked out of Schulz’s speech.

Following the walkout, Jewish Home MK Orit Struk attacked Shulz's "chutzpah" and said her party's representatives felt they had no choice but to walk out.

"When the President of the European Parliament spits on you, you cannot just remain silent, wipe your face and call it rain. It is unprecedented gall to stand up in the Knesset of Israel and proceed to slander the entire body of elected officials and the entire Jewish People," she fumed.