Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said European Parliament President Martin Schulz "suffers from the same selective listening as many Europeans" in repeating a Palestinian claim that they use 17 liters of water for every 70 Israel uses per capita, adding that "even the Palestinian Water Authority says the discrepancy is much smaller."
‘’Europeans jump to criticize Israel without checking facts’’, Netanyahu said.
In a speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on Wednesday, Schulz referred to his visit in Monday in Ramallah where he met with young people.
He said: ‘’One of the questions these young people asked me which I found most moving – although I could not check the exact figures – was this: how can it be that an Israeli is allowed to use 70 litres of water per day, but a Palestinian only 17?’’.
Schulz’s remark and criticism of Israel’s blockade of Gaza sparked the ire of lawmakers from the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party led by Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who walked out from the plenum, yelling "Palestinians are liars" and "shame."
Minister Bennett called for Schulz to apologize for lying.
‘’Schulz admitted that he didn't check if what he said is true, but he still blamed us. People accept any attack on Israel without checking it. They plug their ears," Netanyahu said.
"Water isn't a good topic for attacking Israel," he added.
According to Water Authority data, West Bank Palestinians had 127,000 liters of available fresh water per capita per year in 2009, while Israelis had 154,000 liters of water per capita per year. Of the available fresh water in 2009, the Water Authority said that the Palestinians consumed 95,000 liters per capita per year, while Israelis consumed 137,000 liters per capita per year in 2009.
The Authority also maintains that Palestinian water availability is lower than it could be due the massive amounts of water losses occurring in the Palestinian water infrastructure, due to leaking pipes and water theft. All in all, the Water Authority estimates that water losses in West Bank Palestinian infrastructure amount to about 33%.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein gave Schulz the benefit of the doubt, saying that someone must have misled him.
"The European Parliament is an important guest and his speech wasn't given to a censor. No one knew what he was going to say," Edelstein stated.
"Our president (Shimon Peres) spoke to the European Parliament and no seats were empty and no one walked out. They found other ways [to criticize him]. I'm not here to educate anyone, but we should think about that."