Watch: Abela And Grech Clash In Parliament Over Metsola’s Controversial Israel Visit
Tensions flared in Malta’s Parliament this week when Prime Minister Robert Abela took another dig at European Parliament President Roberta Metsola for visiting Israel after the 7th October attacks.
Abela started out by insisting that the government’s position with regards the war in Gaza has always been consistent in favour of a permanent ceasefire, even though diplomatic tactics meant it stopped short of calling for that when negotiating a UN resolution.
“We definitely didn’t take an irresponsible position to fly to Israel [after the 7th October attacks] for reasons of personal gain and propaganda, sending out an irresponsible message that gave [Israel] courage to retaliate as it did under the excuse of self-defence. We saw the massage that followed,” he said.
Opposition Leader Bernard Grech interrupted him to demand that the Prime Minister retract his statement.
“The Prime Minister appears to have made a very ugly insinuation that because Roberta Metsola visited Israel after the 7th October attacks and spoke the way she did, she justified Israel’s attack on Palestine,” he said.
“If that’s the case, you should be ashamed of yourself and retract your statement. If not, I apologise.”
However, Abela stuck to his guns and said that “everyone” understood what Metsola’s presence in Israel signified, so much so that the EP President ended up climbing down from her original position.
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