Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim first made the headlines in Israel when he yelled at members of an Israeli delegation taking part in in the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in St. Petersburg on Oct. 18 to "get out of the hall right now if you have an atom of dignity … you occupier, child killers."
One year ago, Al-Ghanim called on the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union to act to revoke Israel's membership in the IPU. Israel responded by filing a complaint with the IPU. More recently, Al-Ghanim traveled to Geneva to submit his defense of the incident in St. Petersburg. But as it turns out, Al-Ghanim's visit did not go as expected. When he arrived, he learned that two members of the Kuwaiti parliament had filed a complaint against him with the IPU for exceeding his authority and failing in his management of the parliamentary matters for which he is responsible.
Al-Ghanim is not very popular in Kuwait. The man who lectures the only democracy in the Middle East is responsible for sending dozens of public officials, including fellow parliamentarians, to prison after an incident on Nov. 16, 2001 in which hundreds of protesters broke into parliament and called for the prime minister, whom they accused of corruption, to step down.
Al-Ghanim's outburst at the St. Petersburg conference instantly made him a hero to Palestinians. Just two weeks ago, Al-Ghanim had a street near the West Bank city of Salfit named after him, a gesture that will no doubt encourage him to continue to engage in anti-Israel activity. In Nablus, Qalqilya and elsewhere, dozens of memorials for the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the same man who conquered Al-Ghanim's country and abused the Kuwaiti people until his defeat at the hands of the Americans, can be found. It is doubtful his motives are pure since the late Palestine Liberation Organization head Yasser Arafat was the only Arab leader to support Saddam and even hail his occupation of Kuwait.
Today one can find hundreds of billboards displayed all around Kuwait and paid for by Al-Ghanim that read: "No to the normalization of ties with the Zionist entity" and "#Kuwait against normalization with Israel."
A billionaire who owns dozens of businesses in Kuwait and around the world, Al-Ghanim rules Kuwait with an iron fist, despite being the #2 man there, behind Emir Sabah Al Sabah. The only thing he lacks in Kuwait is popularity, so he tries to earn sympathy among Arabs the only way he knows how, by going after Israel.
Here are just some of the things that have happened in Kuwait in recent years under this man's "rule." Al-Ghanim has canceled a law legislated by 50 Kuwaiti lawmakers that would have given citizenship and rights to the over 70,000 non-citizens residing in Kuwait who are unable to receive a passport and are denied the right to medical if they cannot afford to do. He also ordered the closure of Kuwait's Al-Watan newspaper after it ran a cartoon critical of him. Such is democracy Al-Ghanim style.
In Kuwait, a country where there is no gender equality, Al-Ghanim is known as someone who acts against women and women's rights. He supports the segregation of women and has acted keep them from serving in Kuwait's military.
This all leaves an impression that Al-Ghanim is not overly concerned with his own people. He worries about the Palestinians' affairs at the same time as he abuses his own flesh and blood.
Al-Ghanim is the last person to teach Israel about morality, democracy and human rights. The State of Israel, the Foreign Ministry and other relevant ministries should follow Al-Ghanim's actions, not out of fear, but in order to torpedo his moves.
