Svend Robinson, the raving pro-Palestinian Canadian MP who (among other outrageous acts) nominated the International Solidarity Movement for the Nobel Peace Prize, has confessed to a petty act of thievery.

Admitting he helped himself to a piece of jewelry at a recent public sale, veteran NDP MP Svend Robinson has announced that he’s taking a leave of absence from his political duties.

Struggling to choke back sob at a Vancouver news conference, Robinson, 52, told reporters he has been suffering from “severe stress and emotional pain” since a near-fatal hiking accident in late 1997.

His personal problems culminated last Friday, he said, when he engaged “in an act that was totally inexplicable.”

“I pocketed a piece of expensive jewelry,” he admitted. “Something just snapped in this moment of total, utter irrationality.”