Galloway’s Nazi jibe
New MP attacks Israel … and issues poll threat to Starmer
GEORGE Galloway yesterday likened Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Holocaust.
The new MP for Rochdale made the suggestion in an inflammatory Westminster press conference shortly after being sworn in to the Commons.
He also threatened to exploit Labour divisions over the Gaza-Israel conflict and defeat the party in ‘scores’ of seats at the next election – including deputy leader Angela Rayner’s.
Mr Galloway, a former Labour MP, warned he will ‘cause all kinds of trouble’ for the Opposition over the issue after winning his seat by running on a pro-Palestinian platform. He said outside Parliament that the next election, expected in the autumn, ‘will be about Muslims’.
And he defended his views on Israel’s actions in Gaza, telling reporters: ‘If the by-election had been held in 19401941, would anyone have condemned me for putting the horrors of the Holocaust at the centre of my campaign?’
He also pointedly referred to the Greater Manchester seat of Ms Rayner as one that will be targeted by a pro- Palestine candidate at the election.
He said: ‘The truth is that you know, and certainly [ Labour leader] Keir Starmer knows, that
I’m speaking for a very large number of people in Britain.
‘And in dozens if not scores of
parliamentary constituencies, people who support my point of view or who will vote for it, or who will vote for independents who think similarly, could alter the outcome of the general election.
‘Angela Rayner has a parliamentary majority of around 3,000. There’s at least 15,000 supporters of my point of view in her constituency. So we’ll be putting a candidate up against her.
‘And there are many constituencies in London… in Birmingham, in other parts of the West Midlands,
in North-West England, in the towns around Rochdale – Oldham, Blackburn, Burnley, Nelson, Bury – we’ll be putting candidates up in all these places and we will either win or make sure Keir Starmer doesn’t win... it’s going to cause all kinds of trouble for Keir Starmer.’
He said Palestinians were the victims of a ‘genocide’ at the hands of the Israeli military and he refused to condemn Hamas, saying they had been chosen by the people of Gaza in an election.
This is despite the terror group being behind the murderous attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 last year.
Mr Galloway, a former presenter on the now-banned Russia Today television channel, also refused to back Britain’s support for Ukraine against Vladimir Putin. He then posed for photographs with fourth wife Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, who had the Palestinian flag painted on her fingernails.
He said he did not expect former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – now an independent after being booted out of Labour – to join his Workers Party. But he confirmed he has called on Mr Corbyn to ‘lead a coalition of socialist, progressive’ MPs.
During a ceremony in the Commons, he swore an oath of allegiance to the King on the Bible.
New arrivals are always flanked by two MPs when they are introduced by the Speaker. He had expected to be accompanied by former Brexit Secretary Sir David Davis and Jeremy Corbyn. In the event, Father of the House Sir Peter Bottomley had to step in after Mr Galloway was snubbed by Sir David and Alba Party MP Neale Hanvey replaced Mr Corbyn, who pleaded a ‘diary clash’.
Mr Galloway’s by-election victory was a body blow for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. He effectively made his campaign about Gaza alone in order to appeal to the pro-Palestine vote in the constituency of Rochdale.
It has fuelled fears about MPs’ safety after extremists within the pro-Palestine protest movement targeted individual politicians in Westminster and at their homes and constituency offices.