Following George Galloway’s recent display of cowardice, the organizer of the debate in question – a Muslim – has ripped him a new..ehh..Galloway (hat tip: Dan)
Dear Mr Galloway,
It has not escaped my attention that, since discourteously walking out on an event I had spent much time and effort organising, you have been claiming repeatedly that I had “misled” and “deceived” you. I was not intending on replying until I saw you once again attempt to, in my opinion, slander me on Press TV.
In that broadcast you claimed, “… I was deceived; I was not told by the Iraqi, Muslim organiser of the event, that I would be debating against a 20-year old Israeli…”. But let’s look at the facts. Fortunately, all my correspondences with your secretary are saved in my inbox so we can refer to this record while scrutinising your allegation. Here is what I told your secretary about your opponent:
“I can confirm that the venue for the debate will be the Blue Boar Lecture Theatre in Christ Church. Mr Galloway’s opponent will be a student called Eylon Aslan-Levy. He is a final-year undergraduate at Brasenose College, reading philosophy, politics and economics. He has debated internationally for Oxford, including in Ireland, Serbia and Israel, and was the winner of the Mediterranean Universities Debating Championship in Istanbul in 2012. He delivered a paper speech in the Oxford Union debate on the Middle East in 2011.”
Note, this was the only time Eylon was mentioned, in the entire thread, either by your secretary or I. It is strange that someone who takes such a hard-line view on debating Israelis should omit to ask whether or not his Jewish, pro-Israeli opponent, who has debated in Israel, is in fact Israeli. Your secretary did not go on to ask me about Eylon’s nationality – indeed I did not know until the debate that Eylon is an Israeli – and even had I known Eylon’s nationality, I was not aware of your staunch (and damaging) stance of boycotting Israeli individuals.
As the organiser, am I to know about every one of your views? Should I let you know if your opponent is a vegetarian in case you have a policy of not debating vegetarians? Am I misleading you if I do not tell you your opponent’s shoe size? Think hard about the absurdity of your position. In none of the previous debates I had organised did it even occur to me to inform the debaters of their opponents’ nationalities. This particular debate was no different.
Please know that I had been looking forward to seeing you put forward the case for Palestine and the Palestinian people. Instead I was left humiliated in front of a room full of people who had waited an hour and a half for your arrival, only to be subsequently accused of being deceptive and misleading. Does that seem fair to you Mr. Galloway?
Yours sincerely,
Mahmood (the Iraqi Muslim)
For his part, Galloway has remained defiant, posting the following diatribe on Facebook.
Me and the Palestinian cause: A number of questions have recently arisen I need to deal with. Firstly if people want to talk to the Palestinians they need to contact the Palestine Liberation Organisation. This is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and has been for many decades. Secondly, an organisation calling itself “BDS” does not own the words or the concept of boycott, divestment or sanctions. They are entitled to their own interpretation of these words but they don’t own or control me. I will make my own interpretation. And it is this – no purchase of Israeli goods or services, no normal contacts with individuals or organisations in Israel who support the existence of the racist Apartheid creed of Zionism. That’s what I mean by boycott. That’s what I do. Israelis who are outside of and against the system of Zionism are comrades of mine – like Prof Ilan Pappe. My opponent at Oxford University did not meet this test. The organiser of the event momentarily lionised by the liberal as well as the conservative establishment needs to know this, especially as he is a medical student. To compare Israeli Zionism to “Vegetarianism” is like a doctor not knowing the difference between a pimple and a tumor. Apartheid Israel is a cancer at the heart of the middle-east. Only it’s replacement by a bi-national democratic state from the Jordan River to the sea will cure this. That is what I am fighting for.
George Galloway MP
House of Commons
London
Notice the reference to Israel as a “cancer.” Where have we heard that before?
Here’s hoping Galloway doesn’t have to wait too long until he gets to play the part of an animal again. Only this time, it won’t be a cat, but rather a hyena to Arafat’s tiger in Hell.
