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‘Dark Day’ for British Jews as Anti-Zionist Agitator George Galloway Returns to Parliament
George Galloway campaigning in the northern English constituency of Rochdale. Photo: Reuters/Phil Noble
The UK’s main Jewish organization on Friday expressed horror at the return to the British parliament of George Galloway, a far left populist whose election campaign in the northern town of Rochdale centered on the current war in Gaza between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.
“George Galloway is a demagogue and conspiracy theorist, who has brought the politics of division and hate to every place he has ever stood for Parliament,” the Board of Deputies of British Jews declared in a statement. “His election is a dark day for the Jewish community in this country, and for British politics in general.”
Standing on the ticket of the Workers Party of Britain, whose platform is a combination of protectionism, socialism and a foreign policy hostile to the NATO alliance, Galloway won a resounding victory, polling 12,335 votes — 6,000 more than any other candidate. Muslims compose approximately 20 percent of Rochdale’s population and were heavily targeted by Galloway in the run-up to the vote, sparked by the death of its previous MP, Sir Tony Lloyd. The campaign of the opposition Labour Party, which had been expected to easily win the constituency, collapsed in disarray after it withdrew support for its candidate, Azhar Ali, following an interview he gave in which he endorsed the conspiracy theory that Israel knew of the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in advance, describing it as a “massacre that gives them the green light to do whatever they bloody want.”
During his victory speech, Galloway aimed at a barb at Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who has attempted to stamp out the antisemitism in the party that flourished during the tenure of its previous far left leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
“Keir Starmer – this is for Gaza,” Galloway stated. “You have paid, and you will pay, a high price for the role you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on.”
The 69-year-old Galloway has long been one of the more polarizing figures on the British political scene, widely detested in the Jewish community for his visceral attacks on Zionism and support for Israel’s elimination as a sovereign state.
A one-time ally of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Galloway frequently boasted of his friendships with regime figures such as the former foreign minister Tariq Aziz, and famously told Saddam during a visit to Baghdad, “Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability.” Expelled from Labour in 2003 for inflammatory remarks on the eve of the war in Iraq, Galloway subsequently founded Respect, a far-left coalition that placed its campaign for “Palestine” front and center.
Once derided as the “MP for Baghdad Central,” Galloway has developed a reputation for parachuting into constituencies with large Muslim populations and standing as an election candidate. Prior to Rochdale, which forms part of the Greater Manchester area, Galloway has previously represented constituencies in Glasgow, east London and Bradford. In 2014, Galloway was the subject of a police investigation for antisemitic comments, after he declared Bradford to be an “Israel-free zone,” declaring, “We reject this illegal, barbarous, savage state that calls itself Israel. And you have to do the same.”
On social media, critics of Galloway pointed out that he had run his campaign in Rochdale along ethnic lines, with separate appeals to the Muslim and white British communities.
In a letter sent to non-Muslim residents, Galloway made no mention of the Middle East, portraying himself as a traditionalist who values family and who emphasized, “Unlike the mainstream parties, I have no difficulty in defining what a woman is.” Galloway added that his priorities would be aiding small businesses, helping the local soccer team to achieve financial stability and a tougher stance on crime. But in his appeal to Muslim voters, Galloway began with the greeting “A’Salaam o Aleikum,” claiming, “I, George Galloway, have fought for Muslims at home and abroad all of my life. And paid a price for it.”
One BBC reporter revealed that his phone had “pinged with texts from MPs from a range of parties expressing depression at [Galloway’s] return to Westminster” following the Rochdale result. In a post on X/Twitter, the Campaign Against Antisemitism recalled previous clashes between Galloway and British Jews, including his statement “that the institutional antisemitism within the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn was really ‘a disgraceful campaign of Goebbelsian fiction’, in reference to Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propagandist.” and his description of the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities as a “concentration camp breakout.”
The post ‘Dark Day’ for British Jews as Anti-Zionist Agitator George Galloway Returns to Parliament first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US House Members Ask Marco Rubio to Bar Turkey From Rejoining F-35 Program
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, April 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A bipartisan coalition of more than 40 US lawmakers is pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, citing ongoing national security concerns and violations of US law.
Members of Congress on Thursday warned that lifting existing sanctions or readmitting Turkey to the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program would “jeopardize the integrity of F-35 systems” and risk exposing sensitive US military technology to Russia. The letter pointed to Ankara’s 2017 purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system, despite repeated US warnings, as the central reason Turkey was expelled from the multibillion-dollar fighter jet program in 2019.
“The S-400 poses a direct threat to US aircraft, including the F-16 and F-35,” the lawmakers wrote. “If operated alongside these platforms, it risks exposing sensitive military technology to Russian intelligence.”
The group of signatories, spanning both parties, stressed that Turkey still possesses the Russian weapons systems and has shown “no willingness to comply with US law.” They urged Rubio and the Trump administration to uphold the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and maintain Ankara’s exclusion from the F-35 program until the S-400s are fully removed.
The letter comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed during a NATO summit in June that Ankara and Washington have begun discussing Turkey’s readmission into the program.
Lawmakers argued that reversing course now would undermine both US credibility and allied confidence in American defense commitments. They also warned it could disrupt development of the next-generation fighter jet announced by the administration earlier this year.
“This is not a partisan issue,” the letter emphasized. “We must continue to hold allies and adversaries alike accountable when their actions threaten US interests.”
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US Lawmakers Urge Treasury to Investigate Whether Irish Bill Targeting Israel Violates Anti-Boycott Law
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A group of US lawmakers is calling on the Treasury Department to investigate and potentially penalize Ireland over proposed legislation targeting Israeli goods, warning that the move could trigger sanctions under longstanding US anti-boycott laws.
In a letter sent on Thursday to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 16 Republican members of Congress expressed “serious concerns” about Ireland’s recent legislative push to ban trade with territories under Israeli administration, including the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), called for the US to “send a clear signal” that any attempts to economically isolate Israel will “carry consequences.”
The Irish measure, introduced by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris, seeks to prohibit the import of goods and services originating from what the legislation refers to as “occupied Palestinian territories,” including Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Supporters say the bill aligns with international law and human rights principles, while opponents, including the signatories of the letter, characterize it as a direct extension of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as a step toward the destruction of the world’s lone Jewish state.
Some US lawmakers have also described the Irish bill as an example of “antisemitic hate” that could risk hurting relations between Dublin and Washington.
“Such policies not only promote economic discrimination but also create legal uncertainty for US companies operating in Ireland,” the lawmakers wrote in this week’s letter, urging Bessent to determine whether Ireland’s actions qualify as participation in an “unsanctioned international boycott” under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code, also known as the Ribicoff Amendment.
Under that statute, the Treasury Department is required to maintain a list of countries that pressure companies to comply with international boycotts not sanctioned by the US. Inclusion on the list carries tax-reporting burdens and possible penalties for American firms and individuals doing business in those nations.
“If the criteria are met, Ireland should be added to the boycott list,” the letter said, arguing that such a step would help protect US companies from legal exposure and reaffirm American opposition to economic efforts aimed at isolating Israel.
Legal experts have argued that if the Irish bill becomes law, it could chase American capital out of the country while also hurting companies that do business with Ireland. Under US law, it is illegal for American companies to participate in boycotts of Israel backed by foreign governments. Several US states have also gone beyond federal restrictions to pass separate measures that bar companies from receiving state contracts if they boycott Israel.
Ireland has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel on the international stage since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza, leading the Jewish state to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
Last year, Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state, a decision that Israel described as a “reward for terrorism.”
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US Families File Lawsuit Accusing UNRWA of Supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, Nov. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
American families of victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks have filed a lawsuit against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing the organization of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing material support to the Islamist terror groups behind the deadly assaults.
Last week, more than 200 families filed a lawsuit in a Washington, DC district court accusing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) of violating US antiterrorism laws by providing funding and support to Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
The lawsuit alleges that UNRWA employs staff with direct ties to the Iran-backed terror group, including individuals allegedly involved in carrying out attacks against the Jewish state.
However, UNRWA has firmly denied the allegations, labeling them as “baseless” and condemning the lawsuit as “meritless, absurd, dangerous, and morally reprehensible.”
According to the organization, the lawsuit is part of a wider campaign of “misinformation and lawfare” targeting its work in the Gaza Strip, where it says Palestinians are enduring “mass, deliberate and forced starvation.”
The UN agency reports that more than 150,000 donors across the United States have supported its programs providing food, medical aid, education, and trauma assistance in the war-torn enclave amid the ongoing conflict.
In a press release, UNRWA USA affirmed that it will continue its humanitarian efforts despite facing legal challenges aimed at undermining its work.
“Starvation does not pause for politics. Neither will we,” the statement read.
Last year, Israeli security documents revealed that of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza, 440 were actively involved in Hamas’s military operations, with 2,000 registered as Hamas operatives.
According to these documents, at least nine UNRWA employees took part directly in the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
Israeli officials also uncovered a large Hamas data center beneath UNRWA headquarters, with cables running through the facility above, and found that Hamas also stored weapons in other UNRWA sites.
The UN agency has also aligned with Hamas in efforts against the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, blocking Hamas from diverting supplies for terror activities and selling them at inflated prices.
These Israeli intelligence documents also revealed that a senior Hamas leader, killed in an Israeli strike in September 2024, had served as the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, where Lebanon is based,
UNRWA’s education programs have been found by IMPACT-se, an international organization that monitors global education, to contribute to the radicalization of younger generations of Palestinians.