Showing posts with label British MP George Galloway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British MP George Galloway. Show all posts

Sunday, May 12, 2013

(+Video) British MP chirps up conspiracy crackpottery. Guess who?

Media Hawk..
The Commentator..
11 May '13..

It was reported several months back that the unhinged Member of Parliament for Bradford West, George Galloway, was working for al-Mayadeen TV, a propaganda outlet thought to be sponsored by Syrian and Iranian sources.

Galloway has worked for the Iranian-state media outlet Press TV for a while, but he further entrenched himself with al-Mayadeen and in recent weeks, appears to have been going to bat harder and harder for Assad's murderous regime in Syria.

Indeed, even the British Prime Minister had to recently put the 'honourable gentleman' in his place.

But Galloway has now nailed his colours to the mast further, as if possible, by trotting out a line that can only really be heard in the most fringe of Assad-loyalist corners of the internet (when they're not disconnecting it, of course).

Thursday, February 21, 2013

(+Video) George Galloway does his thing

The inherent disrespect, intolerance and racism of the terrorism-friendly sometimes just can't be kept hidden inside. George Galloway does his thing.

The Guardian, October 14, 2012
Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
21 February '13..









A moment of piercing insight from today's Times, London

George Galloway storms from Oxford debate with Israeli


Anne Barrowclough | Last updated at 1:09AM, February 21 2013

George Galloway stormed out of an Oxford University debate last night after discovering that his opponent was Israeli. The Respect party MP, who is renowned for his staunchly pro-Palestinian stance, is reported to have declared: “I don’t debate with Israelis.”Mr Galloway had spoken for ten minutes before giving away to Eylon Aslan-Levy, who was speaking against the motion “Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank” in a debate at Christ Church College. 

A few minutes into his speech, Mr Aslan-Levy, 21, referred to the actions of Israeli using the term “us,” causing Mr Galloway to ask if he was Israeli. “I have been misled,” he is reported to have said. “I don’t debate with Israelis, I have been misled. I don’t recognise Israel and I don’t debate with Israel.” He then stormed out of the room, followed by his wife.



(Continue)


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Friday, June 15, 2012

Galloway: The Despots' Collaborator

Shiraz Maher..
Gatestone Institute..
15 June '12..

Viva Palestina is a charity that was started in the UK and which has spread to several countries around the world, including the United States. Conceived by George Galloway after Operation Cast Lead, the group is ostensibly concerned with delivering aid – which, according to the Israelis, could include weapons to be used against them – to Gaza.

The charity also claims to support the promotion of peace between Palestinians and Israelis, although little has been done in this regard. On the contrary, far from promoting peace, the group has frequently provoked conflict – not least in 2010 when it supported the illegal and ill-fated flotilla led by the Mavi Marmara to enter Gaza by sea.

The sixth Viva Palestina convoy left Britain last month bound for Gaza, revealing the organizers' overwhelming obsession with Israel. Without a hint of irony, it was announced that their supposedly urgent humanitarian convoy would be passing through Syria en route to Gaza. There was no discussion, however, of aiding the tens of thousands of Syrians who have been systematically tortured, abused, or displaced in that country. The convoy is to pass straight by the thousands of Syrians who are now forced to live in refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Marquadt-Bigman - Viva Palestina: the Syrian connection

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror..
09 February '12..

After hackers managed to obtain access to the e-mails of some high-ranking officials at the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Ha’aretz got hold of some of the mails and posted them together with relevant background information. One of the articles focuses on the correspondence between “Viva Palestina” organizer George Galloway, a notorious former British MP, and Assad’s media adviser Bouthaina Shaaban.

Ha’aretz correctly notes that Galloway is “identified with the extreme left in Britain” and is well known for his “close contacts with dictators and extremist elements in the Arab world.”

Given Galloway’s history, it is hardly surprising that in August 2010, he contacted Assad’s media adviser to ask her for Syria’s support in organizing an “aid” convoy to Gaza. Indeed, it turns out that the Syrian regime provided “outstanding assistance” to Galloway’s “Viva Palestina” campaigns “on previous occasions” and Galloway showed his appreciation by praising Syria as “the last castle of Arab dignity.”

Assad’s media adviser responded warmly to Galloway’s request, assuring him that she was “happy to put my time and energy to help with this most important cause of the Twenty Firtst [sic] Century.” Pathetically, she added: “I hope you are following my writings in Counter Punch.”

Of course, Counter Punch is viciously hostile to Israel, but the fact that a supposedly left-wing and progressive newsletter would happily feature contributions from the spokeswoman of Syria’s president is still a great illustration of the depths to which the assorted Israel-haters are ready to stoop.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

(videos) "Solidarity With Palestine from Nakba To Intifada": George Galloway and Company

Daphne Anson
17 May '11

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/05/solidarity-with-palestine-from-nakba-to.html

On 13 May a discussion on the above theme was held by the so-called Equality Movement. It starred George Galloway and others who are determined to effect the demise of the Jewish State.

The first speaker was Mavi Marmara alumna Sarah Colborne, campaigns and operations director of the Palestine Solidarity Movement, promoting the lie of a massacre at Jenin and the libel of "apartheid" (among other slurs), advocating "far more cultural boycotts of Israel", pimping Ben White's notorious book Israeli Apartheid, and assuring the faithful that ending the siege on Gaza will hasten the day when all the refugees return "to a free Palestine" (a telling phrase, that, eh?)

(Warning - she does drone on, for nearly fifteen minutes ...)



Israeli anti-Zionist dupe Yael Cohen and anti-Israel activist Jody McIntyre, who wrote that truly repellent piece in the Independent that I referred to in yesterday's blogpost, also spoke, as did Dr Karma Nabulsi, an Oxford academic and former PLO representative. From the floor a young Sri Lankan speaker declared that the Tamil community in Britain "are right behind you" (i.e. the Palestine Solidarity Movement) while in fiery style an Arab speaker cried "Cut off the supply lines to the Zionist entity!".

If you're a glutton for punishment you can see all the videos (seven in all ) courtesy of You Tube. Below are a couple featuring Galloway, who's in fervent rabble-rousing form, ranting and raving about Britain and Balfour, claiming triumphantly to his hearers' delight that the number of non-Jewish true supporters of Israel has diminished exponentially since the 1970s, declaring to wild acclaim that "Palestine is an Arab country, and the Arab Revolution will not be complete until Jerusalem is the capital of another Arab country", and wishing for the "renaissance of the PLO". Where Ms Colborne is soporifically controlled, George is increasingly fire and brimstone:





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Monday, March 21, 2011

Pro-Israel Activist at London University Physically Attacked

Daphne Anson
20 March '11

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/03/pro-israel-activist-at-london.html

I suppose it was only a matter of time, given the hate-ridden antisemitic atmosphere that prevails on some of Britain’s campuses, especially in London, and the lily-livered attitude of the university authorities.

The Jewish Chronicle reports that a pro-Israel activist was physically attacked and hospitalised during Israel Apartheid Week. He was one of a foursome from the organisation Stand With Us who went along to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at London University to observe a “Celebrate Palestine” event there.

One man reportedly told the group that “the best thing the Jews had done was to go to the gas chambers” and then another man, described as “of Middle East appearance”, bit one of the foursome on the cheek, causing the victim to be taken to the nearby University College Hospital.

To add insult to injury, the university authorities seem to be blaming the Stand With Us group for the assault on the grounds that their presence was provocative.

Read more: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/46817/pro-israel-protester-attacked-soas

And here's a taste of student opinion at SOAS, with George Galloway thrown in:



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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Press TV Breached Impartiality Rules. Uh huh. So – What Else is New?

Daphne Anson
23 November '10

Former Respect Party MP and veteran Israel-basher George Galloway has a flair for a phrase. Years ago, he provoked a great deal of amusement and derision back in Blighty when, on a visit to Baghdad, he reportedly said to that old rogue Saddam Hussein “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."


More recently, on Ahmadinejad’s satellite propaganda channel Press TV Mr Galloway (pictured, pretty in pink on a reality “fly-on-the-wall” British television show in which, catlike, he lapped milk from a pretend saucer formed by the cupped hands of comely actress Rula Lenska) described Israel as “a terrorist gangster state” and a “miscreant, law-breaking rogue, war-launching, occupying state”. Of last May's flotilla incident he observed: “Israel went into international waters to give a message to Iran and Turkey they can do whatever they want because of US support”.

Now, following complaints, the broadcasting standards watchdog and media regulator Ofcom has ruled that Galloway, presenter of the weekly phone-in hour-long “Comment” show, repeatedly breached impartiality with remarks of that kind, that "could be interpreted as being pro-Palestinian and highly critical of the actions of the Israeli government and its military forces". Ofcom found that Galloway’s show did not adequately provide the Israeli viewpoint on the flotilla incident, since when opposing views were included the material was used only "to give the opportunity for the programme to further criticise the Israeli government".

(Read full post)

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Sunday, November 21, 2010

York University Moves to Suppress Offensive Speech — But Only When Jews Are Speaking


Richard Cravatts
pajamasmedia.com
19 November '10

York University in Toronto, which has gained for itself the dubious distinction of being Canada's epicenter of campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, is displaying once again the moral inversion that seems to have infected its student body and administration when the issues of the Middle East are discussed.

The issue at hand is a November 16th visit to the York campus by British MP George Galloway, as the invited guest of the York Federation of Students. In 2009, Mr. Galloway had been barred from entering Canada due to his public support of and donations to Hamas, a group designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department, Canada, and the EU, but a court has since overturned that decision and given Galloway access to Canada once again.

Not everyone was thrilled with the prospect of having Galloway, who, according to wry commentator Christopher Hitchens is 100 percent consistent in support for thugs and criminals, arriving on the York campus to spew forth his rabid fulminations against Zionism, Israel, and the West. In particular, Toronto-based Rabbi Ahron Hoch took it upon himself to post an announcement on his Aish web site in which he urged readers to proactively protest Galloway's appearance, and to take specific steps to inform the greater community about the noxious speaker, including emailing York's president, calling the deans office to lodge a formal complaint, and participating in a rally to be held on the York campus.

(Read full article)

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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Yes, Galloway's money went to Hamas terrorists

Elder of Ziyon
04 October '10

George Galloway is threatening to sue Canada over supposedly banning him last year because of his support of Hamas. The problem is that they didn't ban him - they just informed him that he might be banned, and he decided not to test them.

Galloway's major defense is that he was not supporting Hamas with his donations, but only helping the poor people of Gaza through the Hamas government.

(For those who are not familiar with George Galloway "Peace Activist", I've added this Youtube in order that you can become acquainted. Y.)


That might have indeed been his intent, but reports indicate that most or all of the aid that Galloway gave to Hamas ended up in terrorist hands and none to the people of Gaza!

(Read full post)

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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Smackdown: Convoy vs. Flotilla


J. E. Dyer
Contentions/Commentary
20 September '10

Perhaps the biggest recent news in Gaza-blockade busting is the lack of enthusiasm for it shown by some regional governments. Beirut delayed the departure of the Lebanese “women’s flotilla” flagship, M/V Maryam, for much of July. After Maryam was finally allowed to leave Lebanon, the authorities in Greek Cyprus, the staging point for Maryam to pick up additional passengers, denied the ship permission to depart for Gaza. The flotilla organizers have so far been unable to mount the effort by any other means. A separate aid ship departing from Syria this past weekend simply headed for the Egyptian port of El-Arish, near the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza, rather than attempting to break the naval blockade.

Three vehicle convoys are now preparing to converge on Gaza, but they, like the Syrian ship, will assemble near Rafah in Egypt. One convoy, arranged by the Hamas-linked Viva Palestina activist group, left from London this weekend. Departures are planned from Morocco and Qatar as well. Reporting suggests that the convoys from Europe and Africa will be composed largely of passenger vehicles, reinforcing their character as publicity stunts rather than humanitarian aid missions.

The convoy from Casablanca has already hit a snag, however, and some elements of it are currently delayed in Morocco. Algeria has granted permission to cross its territory only provisionally and unofficially, a posture that Moroccan factions consider unsatisfactory. The Egyptians, meanwhile, refused to allow a Viva Palestina convoy to use the Rafah border crossing in January 2010, deporting British activist George Galloway and banning him from further activities in Egypt. Cairo’s foreign ministry has reiterated the ban this week, emphasizing that aid-convoy vehicles will not be allowed to use the border crossing. Any cargo they bring will have to be reloaded on an Egyptian-managed official convoy.

(Read full post)

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Friday, April 30, 2010

UK: George Galloway Funds-- Surprise! -- Hamas


Shiraz Maher
Hudson New York
29 April '10

George Galloway is always a useful barometer for gauging the climate of sectarian and reactionary politics in Britain. In 2005 he quit his Glasgow constituency to fight for election in the London borough of Bethnal Green and Bow - one of London’s most deprived and divided constituencies.

Galloway’s entire period as a Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow was typified by unavailability. More important to him than the concerns of his constituents were the agitations of the Middle East and South Asia.

Much of this involved his dedicating considerable amounts of energy to the Viva Palestina campaign about which Galloway is now becoming increasingly embarrassed. After presenting Hamas officials with money in Gaza - a criminal offence in many Western nations - he now insists he did no such thing.

The Globe and Mail reports Galloway as now insisting, “I didn’t give any money to Hamas, I gave it to the ministry of health in Gaza to pay for the salaries of the doctors and nurses who hadn’t been paid. By the way, we’re talking about 20 odd thousand pounds, not millions. It’s a symbolic donation. I gave it to the ministry of health in Gaza and I’m proud to have done so.”

It is a remarkable statement, offering a pirouetted view into the parallel universe Galloway so often seems to occupy. Several Arab television stations broadcast his speech at the time, and it remains widely available on the internet. What Galloway actually said was, “I, now, here, on behalf of myself, my sister Yvonne Ridley, and the two Respect councillors - Muhammad Ishtiaq and Naim Khan - are giving three cars and 25,000 pounds in cash to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Here is the money. This is not charity. This is politics.”

Politics, not charity. There is no mention of paying doctors or nurses in Galloway’s triumphalist speech.

(Read full article)

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

UK Muslims systematically supporting anti-Israel candidates in British election campaign


Robin Shepherd
robinshepherdonline.com
27 April '10

With the British general elections less than 10 days away, a fascinating piece in today’s Guardian emphasises the growing importance of Muslim voters in shifting the terms of debate in Britain further against the State of Israel. The writer, Anas Altikriti — a prominent British Muslim academic — proudly talks of the “pivotal importance” of foreign policy for Muslim voters with Palestine (and Afghanistan) taking pride of place.

“On the basis of these concerns,” says Altikriti, “lists of recommended candidates include names from most parties, major and small (Lib Dems, Labour, Tory and Green candidates).”

One list drawn up by the British Muslim Initiative recommends and endorses candidates in 52 constituencies. Most are well known for their virulent hostility to Israel. Almost all are Labour or Liberal Democrat though there is a smattering of Conservatives as well as members of the Respect Party which is headed by the Israel-hating far-Left politician/activist George Galloway.

Altikriti is quite open in stressing the significance of the Palestinian issue in voter motivation among British Muslims:

(Read full post)

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Monday, February 15, 2010

CAMERA Responds to Galloway Coverage in Boston Paper


Dexter Van Zile
CAMERA Media Analysis
12 February '10

George Galloway appeared in Boston on Feb. 1, 2009 to raise money for his group Viva Palestina. Boston radio personality Michael Graham covered his impending appearance during his show earlier in the day, but most of the local media ignored Galloway’s speech despite his role as an apologist for murderers and dictators in the Middle East.

Galloway spoke at the Palestinian Cultural Center for Peace in Allston, a neighborhood of Boston. Prior to its incarnation as a mosque and a Palestinian cultural center, the building was owned by a congregation of Brazilian Protestants, and before that, a congregation of the United Church of Christ.

One local newspaper, The Allston-Brighton Tab, did cover the event.

Unfortunately, the coverage left out a few important details about Galloway’s career and his group, Viva Palestina. For example, the article failed to report that an Egyptian border guard was shot dead by a Hamas terrorist during a disturbance that erupted when Galloway’s caravan reached the Egyptian-Gaza border in early January. The article merely stated that “Fifty people were injured” as a result of the disturbance.

(Read full article)

For those who are not familiar with George Galloway "Peace Activist", I've added this Youtube in order that you can become acquainted. Y.


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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Blockading the Truth: Getting the facts straight on the ‘Gaza Siege’


Anav Silverman
Sderot Media Center (SMC)
20 January '10

The year 2009 brought about a fresh wave of anti-Israel rhetoric and accusations, most which cited Israel’s supposed siege on Gaza. The international press frequently cited calls by human rights groups to “end Israel’s illegal blockade” and “liberate Gaza.” Such messages have been conceived to undermine Israel and present a very misleading angle of the actual Gaza conflict.

In a typical blockade, no supplies would be allowed to enter into enemy territory, or any area of land where the controlling regime facilitates the terrorizing of a neighboring country’s citizens. Most English dictionaries define siege as an “act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies...”

Indeed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website has reported that in the year 2009 alone, Israel allowed for 703, 224 tons of humanitarian aid and 105,600,128 liters of fuel to be delivered into the Gaza Strip following Operation Cast Lead.

(Read full article)
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Reactions in the Arab Press to British MP George Galloway's Viva Palestina 3 Aid Convoy


MEMRI
19 January '10

The Viva Palestina 3 humanitarian aid and solidarity convoy to Gaza, organized by British MP George Galloway, arrived at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza on January 5, 2010.[1] The convoy, 163 meters long and carrying 590 tons of humanitarian aid, departed from the U.K. on December 7, 2009, and made its way from Europe through Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. The organizers asked Egypt to permit the convoy to sail from the port of Aqaba in Jordan to the Sinai port of Nuweiba on the Red Sea, from which it would proceed to the Rafah crossing. However, Egypt decided that it must enter its territory via Al-'Arish on the Mediterranean coast. This forced the convoy to retrace its steps to Latakia in Syria and from there to Al-'Arish. When it arrived in Al-'Arish, clashes broke out between convoy members and Egyptian security forces, who would not permit some of its vehicles to continue on to Gaza.

Egypt has been the target of harsh criticism, both at home and abroad, because of the convoy's forced wanderings and also because of its construction of an underground barrier along its border with Gaza aimed at blocking the smuggling tunnels into the Strip. In effect, it is being accused of tightening the siege on Gaza. Among the critics was Galloway himself, who accused Egypt, which he called a dictatorship, of strangling Gaza, and called on Britain to reexamine its relations with it.

In response to the criticism against Egypt, senior Egyptian officials attacked Galloway, and also said that Egypt had not tried to prevent the convoy from entering into Gaza, but had only insisted that its entrance be in accordance with guidelines and accepted security arrangements. In fact, the Egyptian authorities declared Galloway a persona non-grata and announced that he would not be allowed to re-enter the country. [2]

On the other hand, opposition elements in Egypt and some writers in the Arab world praised Galloway's efforts for the Palestinians, contrasting them with the Arab and Muslim helplessness in the matter.

The following are excerpts from interviews given by Galloway to the Qatari Al-Jazeera TV and to Iran's Press TV, as well as translated excerpts from articles in the Arab press about Galloway's Viva Palestina 3 convoy.

(Continue article)
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Israel in the Teeth of the Storm


Daniel Greenfield
Sultan Knish
19 January '10

Gaza has become the cause celebre of the European left, and there are no shortage of activists, left wing celebrities and politicians eager to get their own Jane Fonda photo op with the Muslim Brotherhood derived terrorists of Hamas, who in any other forum would be chopping their heads off.

In the name of "human rights" the presses churn out cartoons that recall the best work of Nazi Germany's Der Sturmer and the USSR's Krokodil, in all the splendid pornographic iconography of anti-semitism mingling the Star of David with the Swastika, greedy Jews controlling the government, monstrous Jews devouring Arab children, when they aren't crucifying them.

To go by all this torrent of hate, this sewer flow of bile and boiling cauldron of rage, one might imagine that Israel was conducting a non-stop military invasion of Gaza, complete with ruined buildings and charred rubble. You might picture a Sharon style bulldozing of Hamas compounds and squads of Israeli paratroopers firing in all directions. And you would be wrong.

The simple summary of the situation is that in response to the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Israel closed its border with Gaza. Yes, all the lamenting shrieks, the mangled carols and the Red and Brownshirts screaming madly about the Zionist cancer is in response to Israel exercising its most basic right of self-defense by building a wall and getting behind it.

Naturally in the eyes of the left, this refusal by Israel to have open borders with a blatantly terrorist entity that was trying to bring back crucifixion, was considered the worst Zionist war crime yet. And the European left developed an all encompassing concern for what they called, "The People of Gaza", by which like "The Russian People" in 1928 and "The People of Iraq" in 2003, they really meant the murdering thugs at the top whom they supported. Calling them "The People" is always safer, particularly when really you mean the Muslim Brotherhood, the Bolsheviks or Saddam Hussein, and by the twisted progressive logic of the left, homicidal mania directed at the forces of capitalism makes one a genuine representative of the workers and peasants, e.g. the People.

(Read full article)
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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Code Red on Code Pink


Caroline Glick
carolineglick.com
15 January '10

Oh the shame of it all. Last month, 1,300 pro-Palestinian activists from the US and Europe came to the region in the name of peace and social justice to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Led by the self-declared feminist, antiwar group Code Pink, the demonstrators' plan was to enter Gaza from the Egyptian border at Rafah and deliver "humanitarian aid" to the Hamas terrorist organization.

But it was not to be. Led by Code Pink founder and California Democratic fund-raiser Jodie Evans, the demonstrators were not welcomed by Egyptian authorities. Many were surrounded by riot police and barbed wire as they demonstrated outside the US and French embassies and the UN Development Program's headquarters. Others were barred from leaving their hotels.

Those who managed to escape their hotels and the bullpens outside the embassies were barred from staging night protests in solidarity with Hamas on the Nile. In the end, as the militant Israeli pro-Palestinian activist Amira Hass chronicled in Haaretz last week, all but 100 of them were barred from travelling to Gaza.

The lucky few allowed into the Strip included neither Evans nor her friends, former Weather Underground terror leaders Bernadine Dohrn and William Ayres. But they bore no grudge against Egypt. The Egyptians were mere puppets of the real culprit: Israel. As Evans said, "It's obvious that the only reason for [Egypt's treatment of the demonstrators] is to make Israel happy. Israel is behind the refusal [to allow the demonstrators into Gaza] - what other excuse could there be?"

(Read full article)
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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Being George Galloway


The former Labour MP's adventure in Gaza and Egypt is all about his own glorification.

Wall Street Journal
11 January '10

When it comes to George Galloway, where do we begin? In recent years, the former British Labour MP—now representing the Respect Party for the district of Bethnal Green and Bow—could be found lauding Syria as a force for stability in Lebanon, defending the fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran and denying Hezbollah's long record of international terrorism. In response to a question in 2006, he said that the assassination of George W. Bush and Tony Blair would be "morally justified," while carefully adding, "I am not calling for it."

And last week, he was deported and banned from Egypt after leading an aid convoy to the Gaza Strip whose transit through Egypt left dozens wounded and at least one Egyptian border guard dead. Mr. Galloway, for the record, denies that he is or has ever been a supporter of Hamas, just as he always denied knowingly lending aid and comfort to Saddam Hussein, or being a beneficiary of the dictator's largesse.

(Read full article)

Related: Why no "Viva Somalia"?
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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Gaza News You Might Have Missed


Honest Reporting/Backspin
10 January '10

Hamas "hijacked" George Galloway's delegation of international activists. Haaretz's Amira Hass reports from Gaza:


Also "for security reasons," apparently, on Thursday morning, the activists discovered a cordon of stern-faced, tough Hamas security men blocking them from leaving the hotel (which is owned by Hamas). The security officials accompanied the activists as they visited homes and organizations.


During the march itself, when Gazans watching from the sidelines tried to speak with the visitors, the stern-faced security men blocked them. "They didn't want us to speak to ordinary people," one woman concluded . . . .


In meetings without the security men, several activists got the impression that non-Hamas residents live in fear, and are afraid to speak or identify themselves by name. "Now I understand that the call for 'Freedom for Gaza' has another meaning," one young man told me.


If this is how Palestinian supporters are treated, imagine the lengths Hamas goes to when it comes to keeping tabs on what Gazans tell journalists -- or people like Judge Goldstone.

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Egypt Does PR Right


Noah Pollak
Contentions/Commentary
09 January '10

Credit where it is due: The Egyptians know how to deal with Hamas and especially with the useful idiots who have turned Gaza into a cause celebre. When George Galloway and his traveling roadshow of activists showed up in Egypt to make trouble, the Egyptians simply threw all of them out of the country.

“George Galloway is considered persona non grata and will not be allowed to enter into Egypt again,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. The activist left Egypt Friday morning from Cairo airport. … “He was told that he is a trouble maker and his behavior is undermining Egyptian security.”


This is no exaggeration. The arrival of Galloway’s “relief convoy” was accompanied by Hamas-staged riots along the Gaza border in which a Hamas sniper killed an Egyptian border guard. As a result, “Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit said his country would ban aid convoys from entering its territory.”

Where are the outraged Human Rights Watch press releases? When are the UN Human Rights Council hearings? Where is the collective outrage of the British media? We have banned aid convoys to Gaza — this statement would cause global apoplexy if uttered by the Israeli foreign minister.

(Read full post)
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