George Galloway: The Suicide Bomber of Western Politics
Canada was right to deny the British MP entry.
The Canadian government’s recent decision to prevent the odious British MP George Galloway from entering the country has prompted a storm of criticism, mainly from Canadian editors that find Galloway’s pro-jihad views despicable, but nevertheless think his freedom of speech is being violated.
Tom Oleson of the Winnipeg Free Press, for instance, writes in a column entitled “Canada is bigger than this,” “[E]ven though Galloway is a foolish and hateful man who preaches foolish and hateful things, that is not enough reason to bar him from speaking in Canada.” And in an early blog post reacting to the controversy, the National Post’s Jonathan Kaye wrote, “A better solution would have been to let the guy in, but then have police on hand to apprehend him as soon as he violated Canada’s anti-terror laws — say, by fund raising for a banned terrorist group (something he’s done before).”
It’s something he’s done again. Indeed, it wasn’t Galloway’s “preaching” that got him barred from Canada; it was his self-confessed financing of Hamas, which, according to Canadian law, is very much a terrorist group.
Galloway, who was due to deliver a speech at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto on March 30, was denied an entry permit by Canadian border security agents associated with the Ministry of Public Safety. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a foreigner who has “engag[ed] in terrorism” may be deemed a security threat and prohibited from traveling to Canada.
Galloway has vowed to appeal the decision, and this week he told an audience at Columbia University in New York — he’s still persona grata in the United States — “I have not now, nor have I ever been a supporter of Hamas.” However, Galloway’s deeds in the Palestinian territories earlier in the month prove otherwise. He took a much-publicized trip to Gaza as part of a convoy coordinated by Viva Palestina, a so-called “charity” that was formed in protest to the Israeli assault on Hamas in February. While there, Galloway publicly handed over more than £1.5 million in cash, vehicles, and other goods to Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and the elected prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
This Al Jazeera clip, reproduced by the Middle East Media Research Institute, shows Galloway handing over the money and telling his hosts:
We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of the contents, and we make no apology for what I am about to say: We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine. Just in case the British government or the European Union want to face me in any court, let me tell them live on television: I personally am about to break the sanctions on the elected government of Palestine. Many of my friends have to give their cash to charities. By Allah, we carried a lot of cash here. You thought we were all fat. We are not fat. This is money that we have around our waists. And we have to give this. … Some of my friends have to give this money to charities, and they will do this in private later this evening, because they need receipts and it’s not practical to do it here.
But I, now, here, on behalf of myself, my sister Yvonne Ridley, and the two Respect councillors — Muhammad Ishtiaq and Naim Khan — are giving three cars and 25,000 pounds in cash to Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Here is the money. This is not charity. This is politics. The government of Palestine is the best people where this money is needed. We are giving this money now to the government of Palestine. If I could, I would give them 10 times, 100 times more. We are against this siege. We are opposing this siege. We are breaking this siege. We are breaking this siege.
I am saying now to the British and European governments: If you want to take me to court, I promise you, there is no jury in all of Britain who will convict me. They will convict you for the siege of the Palestinian people. Revolution until victory! Revolution until victory! Revolution until victory! Viva, viva! There’s more money coming in from my friends. Viva viva, Palestine!
There is every chance that his flamboyant challenge to British authorities will be met and that he will be prosecuted back home for providing material aid to a terrorist organization, because that’s what Whitehall also considers Hamas. Viva Palestina is already under investigation by the British Charity Commission for failing to provide the necessary documents that detail its purpose, its fund raising activities, and the actual recipients of its largesse.
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Michael Weiss is a senior editor of Tablet Magazine and a culture blogger for The New Criterion. He also writes occasionally for Slate, The Weekly Standard, City Journal, The New York Daily News and Standpoint.
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22 Comments
1. Blackwater:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8oAEtOz6Zc&feature=channel_page
Who the hell in the UK actually votes for this leftist moron?
Mar 26, 2009 - 11:07 pm 2. Marc Malone:Maybe Canada will also bar Obama from visiting, as we gave $900m to Hamas.
Mar 27, 2009 - 12:37 am 3. Craig:““These poor Iraqis — ragged people, with their sandals, with their Kalashnikovs…”
Yah, nothing says poor and ragged like an $800 Kalashnikov.
Mar 27, 2009 - 4:20 am 4. Canuckistani:As loathesome and despicable as he is, unless we were going to charge him with a crime, I think he should have been admitted. But make no mistake, this is a loathesome human being. I’m not sure what this says about Canada but what about the Metropolitan United Church of Toronto?
Mar 27, 2009 - 4:45 am 5. maurice:Don’t get used to this kind of principle from Canadian government. The faint-of-heart liberals will soon be back in power with Harvard’s little megaloman Iggy at the helm. He will be just like his school pal Barry and the world will be diminished yet again.
Sixty percent of the Canadian electorate is regrettably leftist/liberal-minded and they are the ones who not only put the ‘dim’ in dhimmitude but also get the significant coverage.
Oy Canada.
Mar 27, 2009 - 4:57 am 6. JD:Galloway is a thoroughly repugnant individual.
Hilariously fitting that his terrorist-funding outfit was recently attacked on its way to the Middle East – that ranks alongside Robert Fisk, another craven apologist for Islamic terrorism, nearly being lynched in Afghanistan a little while back:
http://trackacrat.com/2009/03/09/couldnt-have-happened-to-a-nicer-person/
Mar 27, 2009 - 6:31 am 7. Camaron:As much as I enjoyed the news that this particular POS was denied entry to Canada, restricting free speech is a slippery slope. As long as he has not committed any crime, he should be able to travel the world freely.
Why anyone voted for this man is beyond me.
Mar 27, 2009 - 6:50 am 8. RW:Yes, Canada should have allowed Galloway in. And then promptly arrested him for supporting terrorism. They would have done the world and the Crown a great favor.
Mar 27, 2009 - 7:20 am 9. fred:I’m with RW @8 on his suggestion. Galloway is a Communist-Islamist terrorist. He is also a liar when he said,
“I have not now, nor have I ever been a supporter of Hamas.”
Out of his own mouth he spits a lie and damns himself by his actions.
I have, for many years since I left Marxism, tried to tell people that most Marxists/socialists/”progressives”/Communists are inveterate liars. They believe in expediency. Juxtaposed with the preposterous and historically and epistemologically moronical statement by Marx that “socialism would create The New Moral Man.”
Mar 27, 2009 - 7:57 am 10. David W. Lincoln:Whatever goes ’round, comes ’round. For Galloway was part of the crowd who barred entry of others to speak in Great Britain.
He deserves the hubris from his stance that all are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Mar 27, 2009 - 9:35 am 11. whyyeseyec:Note to Blackwater……
Who voted in Galloway? The British Muslims…….
Mar 27, 2009 - 10:04 am 12. LawhawkSF:Canada treats Galloway as a pariah because he supports radical Islam. America treats Wilders as a pariah because he tells the truth about radical Islam. Which country has better sense?
Mar 27, 2009 - 10:23 am 13. Frank:Galloway was recently in Gaza, openly and proudly giving money to Hamas. This is in no way a breach of his rights; he supports terrorists, he isn’t welcome here, plain and simple.
Mar 27, 2009 - 11:09 am 14. fred:“LawhawkSF” @12,
Geert Wilders was indeed allowed entry into the United States, and met with more people and groups beyond the author of this article linked below. Your information is incorrect.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2676/pub_detail.asp
Mar 27, 2009 - 11:17 am 15. David Gillies:Quoth Camaron: “As long as he has not committed any crime,” etc.
That is precisely the point. He HAS committed a crime, by actively funding terrorist organisations. He is a vile anti-semite, but that is not against the law. He is also an enabler of genocidal religious maniacs, and that IS against the law.
Mar 27, 2009 - 1:30 pm 16. tim maguire:And just what are Galloway’s politics, anyway? Is he anything more than an ugly publicity hound? (I mean that as a serious question. I can’t stop snarky answers, but I’m not interested in them.)
Mar 27, 2009 - 1:42 pm 17. dan:i’m sorry, i don’t see how it would compromise our righteous anglo-saxon principles to *occasionally* – judiciously – hang a George Galloway… are we such pus-ies?
Mar 27, 2009 - 7:22 pm 18. Miga Somada:Canadians are a bunch of barbaric seal clubbers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wImtuZ0Csuo
Mar 27, 2009 - 9:32 pm 19. Brita:Galloway is nothing for Brits to be proud of. He was voted in by lefties who want to destroy everything in the vain hope that it can be “rebuilt” their way (in other words, with themselves in control and living well) backed by Islamists who want to destroy everything because, er, they think they ought to be in control and living well.
Gorgeous George Galloway deludes himself, but cleverly milks both camps and allows both sides think they are in charge of him and they will “win”. But he is a slippery customer.
Must be rolling in all that free oil he got once before…
Mar 28, 2009 - 10:38 am 20. Joshua:Jonathan Kaye (quoted in the original post): A better solution would have been to let the guy in, but then have police on hand to apprehend him as soon as he violated Canada’s anti-terror laws — say, by fund raising for a banned terrorist group (something he’s done before).
The cynic in me can’t help but wonder aloud whether this is precisely why the Canadian gov’t didn’t let him in – to spare themselves, and Galloway, the ignominy of possibly having to do exactly as Kaye suggests.
Mar 30, 2009 - 3:43 pm 21. David H:Idiotic communist traitor gleefully selling his country down the river to Islamic domination for a vote. Glad the food-for-oil crap was shut down.
Mar 30, 2009 - 6:50 pm 22. Louise:Read the comments at this blog for an accurate description of what really happened. Terry Glavin has written several articles about this, all of which blow to pieces the spin by the left and their media cronies.
Apr 1, 2009 - 5:54 pm