The “Arab League” is allowed to “arm” people? Who knew? Why not arm the Palestinians in Gaza?

— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) March 7, 2013

One need not wonder against whom he would have them use these weapons.

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.

Based on this movie.

You can find a write-up of Galloway’s racist and cowardly act here.

It’s pretty typical of the anti-Israel crowd to “champion” human rights and free speech, yet deem these principles irrelevant when it comes to Jews and Israelis.

Update: Here’s another recent example of the same phenomenon.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/protesters-prevent-israeli-deputy-ambassador-uk-addressing-selected-essex

Israeli deputy ambassador to the UK Alon Roth-Snir was forced to abandon a talk at the University of Essex today after angry International Relations students voiced opposition to his presence.

Students said that Roth-Snir had been due to speak to a selected group in the Government Department, but was forced by protesters in the room to abandon his talk after only five minutes.

Nathan Bolton, the president of the Students’ Union, told The Electronic Intifada that a protest outside was attended by around 200-250 students, despite being organized with only two days notice.

An additional 20-30 students who had been issued with invitations disrupted the deputy ambassador’s talk inside the hall.

Not brainwashed

One member of staff present in the room told me that Roth-Snir had just started saying hello and thank you when he was interrupted by a student protesting: “we are not here to be brainwashed.”

The staff member told me students were “passionate and very measured.”

A Palestinian member of the Palestine solidarity society told me that the room was “90 percent pro-Palestine.” Students read from a prepared statement, calling Roth-Snir a war criminal.

Other students chimed in, all the while explaining why they were opposed to the presence of a representative of a human rights abuser like Israel on campus.

Bolton says that police were called and Roth-Snir was “rushed away” by security guards.

A further attempt to give his talk on “The state and terrorism” to an even smaller group of students also had to be abandoned after 10 minutes.

Update: While Galloway is not willing to debate a Jew Israeli, here is something he is willing to do.

For a while I’ve had a theory that opponents of Israel will get behind anything anti-Israel, without giving the accuracy of it a moment’s thought.  So, on Sunday evening after I wrote this post about rocket attacks on Israel, I thought I’d put my theory to the test.

I tweeted George Galloway MP the link to my post, and asked: ‘RT for my #GazaUnderAttack post?’ Sure enough, he re-tweeted the my message a split second later.

Galloway eventually realized his mistake but not before demonstrating his eagerness to vilify Israel.

A great punk, to be sure.

But not the greatest.

The entire thing is full of lies, which I could spend hours debunking. Among them:

• His claim the Zionists were negotiating with the British to establish Israel in Uganda (4:54). This is misleading, since Uganda was only considered as a temporary refuge for Jews in Russia in immediate danger, and not to replace the aim of Zionism (being a Jewish homeland in Israel). The idea was rejected at the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905, 12 years before the Balfour Declaration.
• His reference to the early Zionists negotiating with the British and others for a Jewish homeland in Patagonia, Argentina (5:10). This is without basis, and is a conspiracy theory restricted to extreme far Right circles. And if you don’t believe me, Google ‘Zionist Patagonia’ and view the search results.
• His implication that Gaza was put under blockade because Israel and the West did not like their Islamic government (10:30), with no mention of the real reason, namely constant rocket attacks on Israel

Meanwhile, here are some videos featuring interviews with Galloway’s ex lover Roxana Shirazi, in which she describes this upstanding Muslim convert (hat tip: uncle joe mccarthy). Among her claims are his promiscuous ways and that he paid for her to have an abortion (which is against his public stance on the subject).

[language warning]

Apparently, an evil and gross little man.

Iran’s state TV broadcaster was taken off air in the UK today after Britain’s media regulator revoked its licence in a move likely to fan diplomatic tensions with the Islamic Republic.
Ofcom ruled that Press TV, whose presenters include former MP George Galloway and Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth, failed to declare that Tehran rather than London was its editorial base when it was granted the licence.

The watchdog said it was apparent that ‘editorial control of the channel rested with Press TV International (based in Tehran)’.

Press TV was also fined £100,000 after broadcasting an interview with a journalist while they were being held in an Iranian prison, which Ofcom said was ‘obtained under duress’.
Ofcom said Press TV had ‘indicated it is unwilling and unable to pay’ the fine.

The move is likely to stoke further anger in Iran after Britain shut the country’s embassy in London and expelled all its staff in November in retaliation at protesters who stormed the British embassy in the Iranian capital.

Venting his anger, Mr Galloway tweeted today: ‘Champions of liberty the British govt have now taken Press TV off Sky.’

Press TV itself is predictably seething..and blaming you-know-who! (hat tip: Gaia)

I wonder what Lauren Booth is going to do now. I hear she really needed her Press TV salary.

Dickie Sliverstein adds: I have it from an Israeli source that the Mossad is indeed behind the demise of Press TV. Damn racist Israelis!

Yet not a word about it from Free Gaza, George Galloway, Lauren Booth and their ilk.

That’s because mentioning it does not serve their anti-Israel agenda.

Gaza is lacking about 40 percent of basic medicines, the Hamas health minister said on Thursday, accusing the Palestinian Authority of withholding key stocks.

The charge was rejected by his opposite number in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), who pointed the finger back at Hamas, saying the shortages were the result of “mismanagement.”

“The health situation in Gaza is very difficult, if there is any new Israeli war the situation will be catastrophic,” Hamas health minister Bassem Naim told AFP, saying the health services were missing 182 out of 450 basic types of medicine.

“This is because of a political decision by the government in Ramallah not to send it,” he said.

“If there is any Israeli war on Gaza, we will need this medicine immediately.”

—-

A source within the Hamas government blamed the shortage on a politically motivated decision within the Palestinian Authority, which is controlled by the rival Fatah movement.

“The Ramallah government doesn’t want to send the medical supplies because it helps Hamas,” the source told AFP, saying Hamas would issue an urgent appeal for international health organisations to pressure Ramallah into releasing the necessary supplies.

But Fathi Abu Mughli, health minister in the Palestinian Authority, insisted the Ramallah government was “fully committed” to the people of Gaza.

“We are continuously supplying medicines,” he told AFP. “Every two months we send between five and ten trucks loaded with medicine and equipment.”

Abu Mughli said the shortage was the result of “mismanagement” by the Hamas health ministry which had sacked some 1,600 ministry of health employees and replaced them with people “with no experience in dealing with or storing medicine.”

Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a bitter dispute since 2007, when the Islamists forced Fatah out of Gaza after days of bloody fighting.

Since then, the two sides have traded barbs over a number of issues, with Hamas regularly accusing the PA of withholding funds or key supplies in a bid to put the squeeze on Gaza’s Islamist government

Which is yet more proof that these people and organizations are not as much about helping the palestinians as they are about faciliating the destruction of Israel.

Xinhua/AFP

Israel and the US administration were conducting serious talks Tuesday to try and avoid further clashes over disagreements regarding a potential settlement freeze.

The discussions surround a written US pledge that guarantees to persuade Israel to agree to a three-month moratorium on settlement construction.

Israeli representatives were holding serious negotiations with US officials over the text of the letter so that a final version could be presented to the inner cabinet on Wednesday.

Earlier on Tuesday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israeli approval of the 90-day settlement freeze was contingent on a written US pledge regarding a package of incentives that would insure Israel’s security and national interests, diplomatic sources told The Jerusalem Post.

Freeze opponent Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told the Post that the US would never put in writing the verbal pledges it made to Netanyahu when he met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York last week.

Such a document “is not on the way, and it is not coming. It is an illusion,” Edelstein said.

Diplomatic sources, however, blamed the Palestinians for the US failure to give Israel a written agreement, claiming that the Palestinians had said a 90- day settlement freeze was not sufficient enough to sway them to conduct direct negotiations with Israel.

Netanyahu has insisted that only when he gets such a document will he bring the freeze to the 15-member security cabinet for approval.

The security cabinet is set to hold its weekly meeting on Wednesday, but at present, the 90-day freeze is not on the agenda.

Based on the agreement between Netanyahu and Clinton, Israel would extend its moratorium on new West Bank settlement construction – but not building in east Jerusalem – for 90 days, with the understanding that the US would not seek to have it renewed further.

During that time, the two sides would begin substantive discussions on the borders of a Palestinian state.

In return, the US would give Israel 20 F-35 joint strike fighter jets, worth $3 billion, as well as a guarantee that for one year, the US would veto Palestinian attempts to seek unilateral statehood from the UN Security Council and that it would block such a measure and other anti-Israeli resolutions in relevant UN bodies.

Middle East expert David Makovsky said the US expected intense discussions on security and borders to go on concurrently during this 90-day period, after talks are renewed.

“I don’t think anyone expects these issues will be resolved in 90 days, but there’s an assumption that by delving into the nitty-gritty of negotiations, progress will be made,” he said. “It’s safe to assume that the US would not have offered all these things without some assurance that there would be progress on security and territory.”

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley would not confirm any specifics of the US proposal or whether the US was willing to put the proposal in writing.

Crowley merely said, “We’re prepared to do everything that we can to create the positions for both Israelis and Palestinians to have confidence to return to direct negotiations.”

He also declined to address the Israeli assertion that the Palestinians were refusing to return to the negotiating table even with the 90-day extension.

In Ramallah, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians had not yet reacted to the package because it had not been officially presented.

“We don’t know the package. I cannot comment on something I haven’t received yet,” Erekat said.

US diplomat David Hale is in the region this week and expected to meet with Palestinians on Thursday, and likely with Israeli officials as well.

Former Israeli ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval told the Post that security cabinet approval of the freeze was dependent on a quick American delivery of the required document.

At present, Netanyahu has only a narrow margin of support in the security cabinet.

“Every day that the Americans procrastinate decreases the chances that Netanyahu can pass the freeze package,” Shoval said. “It raises doubts among people who are doubtful.”

I’m thinking demanding written guarantees is a wise idea.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:08PM: Looks like we vaporized not one, but two, terrorists in the IAF strike earlier today.

The Air Force and the Israel Security Agency [Shin Bet] said they jointly attacked a senior member of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Army of Islam in Gaza on Wednesday in an aerial strike on his vehicle as it drove in the Gaza Strip.

The targeted man, named as senior terrorist Islam Yassin, aged 35, of Jabaliya in Gaza, planned to kidnap Israeli nationals who are vacationing in the Sinai Peninsula, the IDF Spokesman Unit said in a statement.

Yassin’s brother, Muhammad, was also killed in the strike, and four people were lightly injured, Palestinian source in Gaza said.

I love a good Yassineration.

6:00PM: Unleash the Reaper.

At least one Palestinian was killed after his Volkswagen Golf vehicle exploded in central Gaza City Wednesday afternoon, Palestinian sources in the Strip reported.

According to the sources, an Israel aircraft fired at least one missile at the vehicle. Eyewitnesses at the site reported seeing a scorched body inside the vehicle.

At least three people were reportedly wounded in the incident; one of them is said to be in critical condition.

The identity of the casualties was not immediately clear, but sources in Gaza told Ynet that the man killed in the explosion was apparently member of Army of Islam.

4:45PM: Blazing Catfur posts about George Galloway’s visit to York University.

Including this incident:

One young man. whose IDF T-shirt I interviewed, spoke of being told “to go back to Poland” on campus that day. He is of Morrocan descent. He wondered about the reference to Poland as did I. Was it a reference to the death camps? A sincere form of Helen Thomas mimicry?

4:10PM: The infamous Dubai Police Chief has gotten his panties into a bunch over reports that he met an Israeli counterpart.

Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan, who has said Israeli agents assassinated a Hamas commander while in the emirate, on Wednesday denied a press report he met a top Israeli police official in Qatar.

“I categorically deny the report,” Khalfan told AFP.

He was referring to a report in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot that he had met Israel’s police investigations and intelligence branch chief, Major General Yoav Segalovich, at the Interpol general assembly in Doha.

“I did not even attend the Interpol meeting,” Khalfan said.

The Aharonot on Monday quoted an unidentified Israeli police source as saying that “they were introduced, they shook hands and greeted one another,” referring to Khalfan and Segalovich.

The source said the exchange between the two men at the November 8-11 conference was relaxed and there was no apparent tension, despite the disputes between their countries and lack of diplomatic ties.

For his part, Israel’s police spokesman, contacted by AFP, could not immediately confirm or deny the report.

The guy’s such a compulsive liar that I am willing to bet he did meet the Israeli.

1:06PM: PMW brings to our attention the latest example of demonization of Israel at the hands of our “peace partners.”

A PA TV documentary about Palestinian paramedics, intended to show a medic’s typical experiences, includes a scene staged with actors that shows a Palestinian being intentionally targeted by unseen Israeli soldiers, then being shot in the forehead. (Hebrew speech is heard in the background.)

The video indicates the Israeli soldiers’ “intentional” targeting of the young man with a red circle marking his forehead. When he is “hit,” a thick stream of “blood” shoots out from a hole in his head as it would from a water hose or a faucet.

Notice how they don’t just have us killing someone, but specifically a nerdy-looking guy. For increased pathos effect, no doubt.

11:26AM: Meet Israel’s Harry Potter.

FILE - In this July 20, 2007 file photo a tombstone bearing the name of a British Private Harry Potter is seen at the Commonwealth Cemetery in the central Israeli city of Ramle. Potter, a soldier in the Worcestershire Regiment was killed in fighting with Arabs on July 22, 1939, during the Palestine Mandate. Ramle does not keep numbers of how many tourists flock to the grave, but tour guides and the municipality say the tombstone has become a popular destination, largely for domestic travelers.(AP Photo/Moti Milrod, Files)

You can read more about this in my blog post from almost six years ago.

Now meet Israel’s Voldermort.

11:00AM: “I can’t believe there’s no butter.”

9:38AM: Meet the anti-Israel protesters at a protest led by Jewish Voice for Peace.

You decide whether it is peace that they want.

9:25AM: Photo of the day: One of the dudes from Linkin Park at the Western Wall.