There has been a significant rise in anti-semitism in the UK recently, as well is in mainland Europe.
Finally one of the main political parties had to suspend a few of their Members of Parliament due to their anti-semitic positions.
I cannot understand this hatred of another religion for no obvious reason. As someone who is very pro-Israel, I cannot understand why it gets picked on so much in the UN and on campuses across the world.
Howard Jacobson explains why. A real eye-opener and fascinating to listen to.
Yes, that would be George Galloway (born 16 August 1954), a British politician, author, journalist, and broadcaster, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford West. Now, I don't normally get in to politics as I firmly believe that 99% of politicians are incompetent fools who ought to get a real job. This Member of Parliament really annoyed me. I'm British ( you can read my blogpost 'I'm British' here). Anyway, I also believe in Israel's right to exist. As does the UN, the USA, and the rest of the Western World. Who doesn't believe that it should exist? Well, Iran, Iraq, Syria, the Taliban, Hizbollah and Hamas and a few more 'special' countries. Oh, and George Galloway MP. Watch what the putrid little puss-ball has to say here.
This isn't some backwater technical college, this is in Oxford University.
Personally, I love the way that after he and his secretary leave, he receives a wide variety of cat calls.
Some history about Galloway:
George Galloway was expelled from the Labour party after being found guilty of four of the five charges of bringing the party into disrepute. The charges faced by Galloway were that:
· he incited Arabs to fight British troops · he incited British troops to defy orders · he incited Plymouth voters to reject Labour MPs, · he threatened to stand against Labour · he backed an anti-war candidate in Preston.
A report by the then-majority Republican Party staff of the United States Senate Committee on Investigations published in October 2005 asserted that Galloway had given false or misleadingtestimony under oath when appearing before them. The report exhibits bank statements it claims show that £85,000 of proceeds from the Oil-for-Food Programme had been paid to Galloway's then-wife Amineh Abu-Zayyad.
On 20 March 2009, Galloway was advised by the Canada Border Services Agency he was deemed inadmissible to Canada on "security grounds" due to his involvement in the Viva Palestina aid convoy to the Gaza Strip following the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.The Gaza Strip is governed by Hamas, which is on Canada's list of terrorist organisations. This resulted from a personal donation of £25,000 made by Galloway ten days earlier.
The Canadians ruled (and maintained on appeal) that this constituted explicit support for Hamas, although Galloway argued it was not the case as the money was intended to be used for aid purposes.
On 20 August 2012, Galloway provoked controversy and criticism with his comments on the legal case against Wikileaks' Julian Assange. Galloway stated that the allegations, even if true, "don't constitute rape" because initiating sex with someone who is asleep after a sexual encounter the previous night isn't rape.
According to The British barrister, Felicity Gerry, this is not correct under English law.Galloway's comments were criticised by anti-rape campaigners as 'ignorant' and 'very unhelpful'. Respect leader Salma Yaqoob described Galloway's comments as "deeply disappointing and wrong".
Galloway was then fired from his job as a columnist on Holyrood, a Scottish political magazine, for refusing to apologise for his remarks
On 27 November 2012, Galloway branded Zionism “a blasphemy against Judaism and against God”, praised the legitimacy of Hamas and publicly called for the dismantling of Israel. This call was made during an anti-Israel demonstration. Galloway has said: “We do not hate Jews. We hate Zionism, we hate Israel, we hate murder and injustice. Israel blasphemes against the Torah by calling itself a Jewish state.”. This call was followed by a call for the outlawing of dual British-Israeli citizenship as well.
Galloway does not answer questions about his religious beliefs saying that this is a "personal matter".The New Statesman issued an update noting that Galloway does not deny being a Muslim convert, and that he failed to clarify how by his own admission he had a 'Nikah' (a Muslim marriage ceremony) despite the fact that non-Muslim man cannot marry a Muslim woman under Islamic law.
UK - MP Quits Parliament Role After Proposing Israel 'Relocate to the U.S.'(theuglytruth.wordpress.com)
Listen: Ken Livingstone comes to Naz Shah's defence(blogs.spectator.co.uk)
Islamophobia and Anti-semitism - what is, and isn't, bigotry?(stephenlaw.blogspot.com)
