George Galloway “I don’t debate with Israelis”

I had always thought the George Galloway was a skilful, if devious and often nauseating, politician, but a recent video clip suggests he is none too smart, when caught on the spur of the moment.

Galloway can be seen storming out of a students’ debate saying “I don’t debate with Israelis” and more:

I wonder what the reaction would have been if he’d been a fringe UKIPer saying “I don’t debate with the French”? Hmm.

Update 1: Oxford Student covers it too:

“Mahmood Naji, who runs Oxford Debates and selected Galloway to speak, said before the event: “I chose Galloway because he is probably the most vocal and well-known voice on this issue.

“Oxford is an establishment that should prize free speech and open dialogue more than any other. This is the kind of institution that will put extreme or controversial views up to academic scrutiny and then shoot them down accordingly.”

Galloway has been consistently outspoken in his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and in 2009 received a Palestinian passport from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Hamas are considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU.

This was the second time this academic year that Galloway has visited Oxford. In October the former ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ contestant spoke at the Oxford Union, where he was met with protests by members of Oxford Feminist Network. These came after Galloway described allegations of rape facing Wikileaks leader Julian Assange as constituting “bad sexual etiquette”, but added “not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion”. These comments led to the NUS passing a motion adopting a ‘no platform’ policy towards the MP.”

Update 2: Liberal Conspiracy has a thread on it, which I imagine will soon be overflowing with toxic comments.

Update 3: Galloway’s employer, Press TV, is more than happy to promote neo-Nazi views.

In this instance from 2011, arguing that the racist forgery, Protocols of the Elders of Zion, has a point:

“And as for the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion and its Protocol Number 7, its statement that, “the press, which with a few exceptions that may be disregarded, is already entirely in our hands,” is only partially true.

Yes, Press TV of Iran is one of the “few exceptions” to The Lobby’s control of global print and electronically transmitted news and analysis. “

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What Happened at Toulouse University?

Just read this worrying piece on the JC and wondered why the media didn’t cover or why it didn’t come out immediately:

“The delegation of Israeli students from a non-political organisation were midway through a tour of French universities and had held successful events in Lille and Lyon before visiting Le Mirail campus, in the area where the Toulouse gunman Mohammed Merah grew up.

They were at a stall on the campus and were handing out leaflets and chatting to students when a group of protesters arrived and began shouting at them through a megaphone.

“They began shouting anti-Israel slogans and saying that Israel was a criminal state,” said Sacha Reingewitz, vice president of the UEJF. “They said Jews should be exterminated and that Israel commits genocide.”

The protesters demanded that the Israeli group remove the Israeli flag from their stall and when the group refused, they took it down by force.

“Security had to intervene – it was very upsetting,” said Mr Reingewitz.

“The protesters were saying ‘get out of here’ and they sang an antisemitic slogan in Arabic: Khaybar Khaybar is Yahud, Jaysh Muhammad sawfa ya’ud” (Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return).”

Two Students’ Experiences Of Antisemitism

The Huff Post had a piece by Jay Stoll, an LSE student, reflecting on how a certain type of racism is now to be found on British campuses:

“The two most galling cases of anti-Semitism on campuses in recent years have occurred at Oxford and now, LSE. The former being of course when Oxford Students deemed it appropriate fancy dress to arrive at a party dressed as Orthodox Jews, carrying ‘bags of money’. It is also worth noting recently disgraced MP Aiden Burley was Oxford-educated and in fact, a former officer of the OU Conservative Association. Again, not a reflection upon the institutions themselves, but such knowledge should highlight the depressing reality of said instances occurring in the top academic arenas. This also prompt a reality check, regarding where and to whom specifically, we attribute our focus in fighting racism.

The abhorrent BNP and the EDL, and even certain national publications, are all too quick in their McCarthyist agenda to embarrass the Muslim community with constant vilification for their extreme few. Yet when it comes to ‘fig-leaf’ anti-Semitism, I would argue the true ignorance stems from those who they would look last to accuse.

The recent UJS survey, conducted by IPSOS Mori and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, highlighted that 20% of Jewish students had experienced anti-Semitism, and a further 32% had witnessed anti-Semitism in the last academic year. Most Jewish students, therefore, live a happy and normal university life, with issues such as job prospects and a healthy social life (!) paramount, but this does not detract whatsoever from the severity of instances such as these. “

That led me to Leo Boe’s description of what happened to him on an anti-cuts demo:

“We gathered by LSE Students’ Union by Aldwych Street, waiting for the march to begin. The atmosphere was fantastic, and everyone was in good spirits, in solidarity with one another. Regardless of the kind of political or activist background, students were there en force to send one clear message to the government, or at least, that’s what I thought.

Whilst walking around the crowds, admiring slogans and placards, a student handing out a magazine stopped and asked if I wanted a copy. Before I had the opportunity to answer he told me that he knew who I was and that he followed me on Twitter. Rather taken aback and wondering indeed whether this was true, I asked if I could have a copy of the publication he was handing out. The rest of the conversation went something like this:
“You tweet a lot about Israel”

Feeling rather uncomfortable, “not that much”, I responded. Before I had the chance to say anything else, “yeah and about how much you hate Palestinians”
“I’ve never tweeted let alone said anything about hating Palestinians because I don’t, I tweet about Israel because I’m Jewish.”- again, cut off-
“Tweeting about Israel because you’re Jewish must mean that you hate Palestinians, come on admit it! Why can’t you and other Jews just stop hating Palestinians? Do you see Israel as a legitimate state?”
“I’m critical of the government’s approach to expanding settlements and of human rights abuses on both sides – I don’t hate Palestine or Palestinians, and yes I think that Israel and Palestine both have the right to self-determination”
“I can’t believe you just said that about Israel, Jews have no sense of justice”

Fairly shocked and disheartened at the student’s lack of willingness to listen to my side of all of this, and noting his decision to bypass me to get to students to pass out his pile of magazines, I decided to continue making sure my students were all together. How exactly does the Israel/Palestine question factor into a march defending, extending, and protecting the rights of students and future generations of students vis a vis government cuts? I asked myself. “

Gilad Atzmon And The Friends of Palestine Society

News has reached us that the racist, Gilid Atzmon, is polluting students’ minds.

According to Exeposé, the Exeter University student newspaper, Atzmon was invited by the student’s Friends of Palestine Society.

Not unsurprisingly they deny that he is a racist.

No doubt the student friends of Atzmon will be able to explain away his conspiratorial statements:

“we must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously…. American Jewry makes any debate on whether the ‘Protocols of the elder of Zion’ are an authentic document or rather a forgery irrelevant. American Jews do try to control the world, by proxy. So far they are doing pretty well for themselves at least.”

Students with access to Wiki and web will be able to research how conspiracy theories are at the heart of anti-Jewish racism.

Hopefully having educated themselves on this form of racism they can not fail to conclude that Gilad Atzmon is a racist.