The Portuguese deputy reacted, in statements to the Lusa agency, to the displeasure expressed by Palestinian and Iranian deputies, when the president of the UIP spoke about the conflict in the Middle East, shouting "shame".
"If what they want is the elimination of Israel, they can understand that it is biased, because what I said is what is in the United Nations Resolution," he said.
In his speech, Duarte Pacheco "spoke about Israel's right to defend itself, but he did not talk about Israeli crimes against civilians, especially children", accused deputies from Palestine and Iran.
Before the musical moment that would continue the ceremony, some parliamentarians passed in front of the tribune, where the Portuguese deputy, the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, and the president of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, were standing, expressing indignation and shouting "shame on you", an agitation that lasted a few minutes.
"The situation in the medium term, to resolve the conflict, only with the existence of two States – by chance President João Lourenço repeated this –, the Palestinian and the Israeli, side by side, living in peace, and I appealed to the authorities on both sides were available to sit down and talk about this. I don't think there is any tendency here", he stressed.
The president of the IPU reiterated that Israel has the legitimate right to defend itself, stressing that this defense must be carried out "in a proportionate manner", respecting international laws, because if it violates them it could be committing war crimes.
"He further said that Israel had to open humanitarian corridors so that humanitarian aid reaches those who need it most in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians", stressed Duarte Pacheco, highlighting that, finally, he condemned the attack, because "otherwise it seemed that nothing had happened."
"No! There was a barbaric attack that killed defenseless people and this must be condemned," he declared.
Duarte Pacheco said that there can be no fear "of touching on hot topics", which generally cause divisions, otherwise it makes it seem like there are two worlds.
"A world of citizens who turned on their televisions, who read the newspapers and saw that we had a conflict in the Middle East or a conflict in Ukraine, and a world of parliamentarians who met to talk about climate change or something else. These are important matters, I don't question that, but it seemed that there was a dissociation here. We have to address the hot topics too, providing all good offices so that peace and understanding exist", he added.
With the crisis in the Middle East, the commission for this region met urgently, "looking to sit down Palestinians and Israelis and ask them to dialogue so that consensus can happen", he said.
