A controversial UK lawmaker has said he would not be silenced after being interviewed by police for publicly declaring a town in England an ‘Israel-free zone’ in protest at the war in Gaza. Far-left member of Parliament George Galloway said Israelis were no longer welcome in the city which elected him to parliament.
The remarks sparked outrage and hundreds of complaints to West Yorkshire Police.Galloway lashed out at the police's decision to question him over the speech, calling it "an absolute and despicable attempt to curb my freedom of speech by people who appear to be quite happy about the indiscriminate murder of Palestinians in Gaza." He added: 'I won't be silenced, I will keep speaking out against horrendous injustice."
The police probe was sparked after Galloway had made a speech in Leeds in front of a Palestinian flag, lashing out at Israel's policies in Gaza.
In one part of his speech, Galloway said: "We have declared Bradford an Israel-free zone. We don’t want any Israeli goods. We don’t want any Israeli services. We don’t want any Israeli academics coming to the university or college. We don’t even want any Israeli tourists to come to Bradford even if any of them had thought of doing so. We reject this illegal, barbarous, savage state that calls itself Israel. And you have to do the same."
The row escalated on Monday after Daniel Taub, Israel's ambassador to the UK, visited Bradford and held meetings with local Jews and councilors.
Galloway has a long history of animosity toward Israel. In 2012, he branded Zionism "a blasphemy against Judaism and against God," praised Hamas and repudiated Israel. This call was made during an anti-Israel demonstration by members of his new constituency, at which Galloway said: "We do not hate Jews. We hate Zionism, we hate Israel, we hate murder and injustice. Israel blasphemes against the Torah by calling itself a Jewish state." This was followed by a call for the outlawing of dual British-Israeli citizenship.
A few months later, Galloway walked out of a public debate when he found out that his opponent had Israeli citizenship. The debate, hosted at an Oxford college, was on the topic "Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank."
