Melissa Parke, Labor’s star WA candidate, sensationally quit tonight after being slammed by outraged Jewish community groups over her claim Israeli officials at a checkpoint in Gaza forced a pregnant Palestinian woman to drink a bottle of bleach.

The ex-Rudd government minister, who was standing for former foreign minister Julie Bishop’s Curtin seat, quit hours after questions were submitted to Labor’s campaign HQ over her statement by the Herald Sun newspaper.

Ms Parke had told a public meeting last month that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians was “worse than the South African system of apartheid”.

Ms Parke told the inaugural meeting of the WA Labor for Palestine group she could “remember vividly” the case of “a pregnant refugee woman (who) was ordered at a checkpoint in Gaza to drink a bottle of bleach”.

Ms Parke claimed the bleach “burned out her throat and insides, fortunately her baby was saved”.

In her statement of withdrawal, Ms Parke, who worked in the Gaza Strip for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said her views on the Middle East were well known, “but I don’t want them to be a distraction from electing a Labor government”.

The controversy comes after day of chaos within the Victorian Liberals, who were forced to dump three preselected federal candidates in Melbourne after it emerged they could potentially fall foul of Section 44.

It threatens to send panic through parties across the country as they scramble to avoid the constitutional crisis that has afflicted federal parliament for the past three years, leading to the resignation of 17 senators and MPs over their citizenship status.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was also facing calls to apologise to his Labor opponent in the Brisbane seat of Dickson last night, after he accused her of using her disability as an excuse for not moving into the constituency.

Ms Parke’s speech was described by Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein as “nothing more than a laundry list of slanders, including discredited conspiracy theories and downright falsification”.

“We have seen in other countries what happens when political parties turn a blind eye towards fanatics and conspiracy theorists in their ranks. It is incumbent on the ALP leadership to ensure Australia does not follow the same route,” Mr Rubenstein said.

Ms Parke warned the audience, which included Labor MP for Fremantle Josh Wilson, that Israel’s “influence in our political system and foreign policy is substantial”.

The Victorian Liberals are now rushing to find replacements in three Labor-held seats before nominations for the poll close on April 23.

Candidates Kate Oski (Lalor) and Vaishali Ghosh (Wills) stood aside after it was found they both had potential citizenship issues, while Helen Jackson (Cooper) was last night dumped because of potential issues through her employment at Australia Post.