George Galloway’s Rochdale victory ‘dark day for Jewish community in this country’
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George Galloway’s by-election victory in Rochdale was “a dark day for the Jewish community in this country”, the Board of Deputies of British Jews has said.
The Board, the largest Jewish community organisation in the UK, said Mr Galloway should be “shunned as a pariah by all parliamentarians” in the aftermath of his by-election win.
On Thursday, he secured 40 per cent of the vote on a pro-Palestinian ticket. He returns to Westminster for the fourth time – this time for the Workers Party of Britain.
Mr Galloway’s victory speech was temporarily interrupted by an eco-protester, who accused him of being a denier of climate change.
Her protest was swiftly drowned out by the left-wing politician’s supporters chanting “Galloway! Galloway!” until she was dragged off by security.
Another activist tried to throw orange confetti over him - the colour closely associated with Just Stop Oil - but they missed their target.
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies said: “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.
“His election is a dark day for the Jewish community in this country, and for British politics in general. We believe he should be shunned as a pariah by all parliamentarians.”
Over the course of Mr Galloway’s career, spanning almost four decades, he has been criticised several times for comments he has made about Israel.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said Mr Galloway “has an atrocious record of baiting the Jewish community”.
It said: “He has previously and infamously declared Bradford an ‘Israel-free zone’. He said of his previous election loss that ‘the venal, the vile, the racists and the Zionists will all be celebrating’.
“He described David Baddiel, a Jewish comic who is well-known for not closely associating himself with Israel, as a ‘vile Israel fanatic’.
“He claimed that the institutional anti-Semitism within the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn was really ‘a disgraceful campaign of Goebbelsian fiction’, in reference to Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propagandist.
“He was sacked by TalkRadio over his views. Recently, he has described the atrocity carried out by Hamas on Oct 7 as a ‘concentration camp breakout’ and referred to Hamas terrorists as ‘fighters’.”
The group said it was “extremely concerned by how he may use the platform of the House of Commons in the remaining months of this Parliament”.
It comes as the deputy leader of the Workers Party of Britain refused to condemn the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.
Chris Williamson, suspended from Labour in 2019 after claiming that the party had been “too apologetic” over allegations of anti-Semitism, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “What about the Palestinian people that have been massacred over nearly 76 years now, actually, where is the media outrage at that?
“And in international law, oppressed peoples have an absolute right to armed resistance.”
Rishi Sunak has described the Rochdale campaign as “one of the most divisive in recent times”, as candidates complained of aggressive behaviour by Mr Galloway’s supporters.
A Number 10 spokesman said intimidation “doesn’t represent our values of tolerance and respect, and he’s [Mr Sunak] very clear that he will always defend and champion those values”.
A spokesman for Mr Galloway, and Rochdale borough council, were contacted for comment.
