Galloway vows to use MP status to speak out on Gaza

George Galloway pledged to use the “genocide in Gaza” as the platform on which he would fight both the Conservatives and Labour in parliament.

Britain’s newest MP was eviscerating in his condemnation of both Israel’s actions and alleged biased reporting in the British press.

The veteran politician comfortably won last Thursday’s Rochdale by-election after Labour’s candidate Azhar Ali made alleged anti-Semitic comments and lost his party’s support.

Addressing the Westminster press after he had sworn the Member of Parliament’s official oath, Mr Galloway, 69, said he would use his first speech to highlight the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.

Referring to the International Court of Justice as the “highest court in the world” he stated that Israel would stand trial for the “crime of genocide” in Gaza. “It doesn’t get much more serious than that,” he said. Asked if he would support a Hamas government in the territory he said they should be allowed to govern if that was the “will of the people”.

However, he added, “I would not have voted for Hamas” and said he was a “PLO man” and Yasser Arafat supporter.

When asked about concerns over MPs’ security following threats since the Israel-Gaza war began, he berated the media for failing to report a politically motivated physical assault on him in 2014. The attack was allegedly over his comments about Israel and left his head permanently scarred.

Mr Galloway also contested that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would use Gaza and Muslims as a “wedge issue” in the next general election.

“It will be about Muslims and taking away their civil liberties in this country,” he said.

Asked by The National what his solution might be to the Israel-Gaza conflict, he remarked that he did not “have enough time” to explain. He later said “this has been a crisis for 76 years in which there was a raging war going on, I’ve spoken about it written about it broadcast about it so many thousands of times”.